Dragon Ascent
by RunsWithScizors
Summary: After the last incident, Brendan and May thought they were done with hero work. But the world just can't seem to stay saved, and they're called to stop a meteor. The catch? They don't know how to do it, and a crazy cave lady keeps interfering with their plans. (Super Effective's Delta Episode)
1. After the Epilogue

**Guess who's back? And guess who wrote a sequel not even they were expecting?**

 **We WERE going to do Kalos next, but we both had writer's block, which led to Other Ideas. And having Ideas can be a very bad thing, or a very fun thing. We're going for the fun part, but who knows how this will turn out. It's short and fast-paced, but it's just to give us more time on our next project.**

 **Again, we might add shipping into this. Read into it however you want...except Archie and Shelly. That's a thing, because I said so.**

 _Soon after the Super Effective epilogue..._

Two years ago, a boy named Brendan moved to Hoenn because his father got a job as a Gym Leader, got a Torchic from the local professor as a reward for saving his life (from a _Zigzagoon_ , a Pokémon that Professor Birch could easily have kicked away) and went on a journey to become honorary Champion accompanied by the above professor's daughter, starting their own team of ridiculously skilled children in the process.

Now, the girl was over at his house, eating toast with the boy and her Pikachu on the couch, in their pajamas. Even the Pikachu was wearing a purple flower-print nightgown, which Brendan had joked taught her Sleep Powder. Pikachu had refused to confirm or deny it.

"The couch is more comfortable than the chair," Brendan said conversationally. "Why didn't you let me sleep there?"

"Because we couldn't share it," May answered immediately, not caring at all when she accidentally spit crumbs on her shirt and the cushion under her. It was only Brendan, not anybody she wanted to impress. "We'd have to cuddle like a couple, and no offense, Brendan, but I don't think friendly sleepovers are supposed to take that turn."

"But it's my house," Brendan complained. "You could have taken the chair!"

"You could have slept in your own bed," May pointed out. "Don't whine to me about your own stupidity."

Something moved down the hall, and the Pikachu's ear twitched as all three heads turned. Brendan's parents had woken up, and for a moment, they were concerned that they were the reason behind that. But then his mom just gave a tired smile.

"Awake already?" she asked, almost surprised. "Your internet series kept you up late, I heard you quoting it past midnight. I thought you would be sleeping for another hour at least."

"Thought wrong," Brendan said, getting back to his feet. "Pikachu got hungry."

Pikachu glared up at him. While the statement _was_ true, she was not the one who had woken them all with a growling stomach.

May swallowed her mouthful of toast, sensing something was wrong. "Did we keep you guys up?" she asked.

"Norman got an important call that woke us both." Brendan's mom didn't sound happy. "He fell behind on the required paperwork and now we have to move our date night in order to catch up. As if he thinks that dinner and a movie would make up for missing out on the Litleonids..."

"I'm sorry!" Norman hissed, as if he'd already spent all night apologizing.

Brendan could understand both sides of this. Ever since he'd grown up a little and taken a job as a warm-up trainer for the Petalburg Gym, he'd learned that his reluctance to do much of anything came from his father. They were both master procrastinators, or as close to it as a workaholic like Norman could be, and while it was actually good in small doses (both of them also had an incredible ability to work under pressure) it did leave them in trouble more often than not.

On the other hand, his mother liked to do the necessary things. That's why she'd chosen to be a housewife instead of keeping her office job - there was always something to cook or clean with a growing boy and a lot of Pokémon in the house. She and Norman worked as a couple because they balanced each other, so she completely understood that Norman had, once again, focused too much on the fun part of being a Gym Leader and ignored the not-so-fun part.

That's why she ended up smiling to reassure her husband that she wasn't too upset. "Oh, well. They'll come again. And, after all, it's not like I haven't cancelled something you really wanted to do before. Brendan's birth was one of those times, now that I think of it."

Brendan clapped his hands over his friend's ears. "Mom, I'm begging you. Do not tell the story of my birth. If Dad did not pass out and hit his head like in movies, and the doctor was not wearing a clown nose, it will not be funny. ANY story involving a human birth is not funny."

"Relax, Brendan." May pulled his hands off of her ears. "You told me yourself that you were born three weeks ahead of schedule. Now I know why." She grinned. "And to make this even, I've heard MY dad hit his head when I was born. Mom said he got a mild concussion because he slipped on the floor or something. He got better in an hour or two."

"Or so they say." Brendan thought a fourteen-year-old concussion was enough of an explanation for the professor. Yes, he was smart and could still name faces, but the Zigzagoon Incident proved that he wasn't always the expert people liked to say he was. Especially when he had three Pokémon _right there_...

He didn't notice that Norman was getting the tickets until he handed them to him. "Take May to the Litleonids," he suggested. "It'll keep you busy and out of the gym for a while. And it's in Mossdeep, maybe your Gym Leader friends can come, too."

Pikachu squealed in excitement and snatched a ticket from Brendan. **"Pokémon get in for free with trainers! I'm going to get to see the Litleonids from a real space building!"** She fell over, giggling, still holding on to the ticket.

Brendan looked down at Pikachu, then back to May, before settling on his dad again. "I guess that answers that. May, call the twins for me." He stood up and stretched. "I'm going to put on real pants."

"That's something I never wanted to hear," May said to herself, but picked up her own bag and retreated to the bathroom to change.

* * *

Wally was not afraid to admit when he was scared. And right now, Dusky was scaring him.

He'd borrowed the Absol from May specifically to test out his battle capabilities, and for a while, they had learned to work together. They hadn't mastered anything, but Wally had documented enough in his breeder's studies to know that Dusky had the potential for strong offspring.

But then Dusky had sensed something, one of the impending disasters that the Pokedex was always saying that his species could, and had immediately tried to rip his Mega Stone collar off.

"What's wrong?" Wally asked, and when Dusky only whined and struggled more, Wally reached down and removed the collar. "May told me not to remove this. She doesn't want it to end up lost."

 **"Put it in your pocket,"** Dusky snapped, not in the mood for arguing. Wally did as told without needing to have it explained, a first for everybody. **"Something's out there."**

The grass rustled, and both of them prepared for battle, Wally reaching for Dusky's ball to return him, Dusky himself baring his teeth.

Out popped a Wurmple, who looked terrified at the sight of them and immediately fainted in sheer terror. Wally looked down at Dusky, who was still growling at the collapsed caterpillar. "Stay calm. It can probably smell fear."

Dusky glared at him, not appreciating the sarcasm. **"Silence, peasant."**

Wally, not understanding, got down and put the Mega Stone back on. "Let's get you home," he said, and Dusky calmed slightly. "May's probably more equipped to deal with whatever that was than I am. She can probably calm you down."

Dusky still felt the wind ruffle his fur in the wrong direction, a clear sign of impending doom, but this time he kept his mouth shut and followed Wally out of Petalburg Woods. Maybe seeing May still alive would help.

Of course, his home in Littleroot Town was exactly where his sixth sense was telling him to go, likely because May would need him. He'd deal with that when he came to it.

* * *

"Wallace, please!"

The Lavaridge Town Gym Leader was almost begging, a rare sight that would have made Wallace stop to admire his work, if it hadn't been such an urgent matter that forced him to do this.

Flannery went right on talking, as if unaware of his inner conflict. "I changed my mind, I can't do this. Children terrify me. You can't go around on some Champion business while I'm stuck here with -"

"It isn't _that_ bad," Wallace interrupted gently.

"Easy for you to say!" Flannery groaned and hid her head in her hands. "I never had siblings and my cousins are too far away. I've never even been a babysitter before! What do they even _eat_?"

Now this, Wallace thought, was pushing the drama just a little too far. "They eat food, Flannery, like everyone else. You'll be fine, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"But what if I drop her on her head?" Flannery squeaked, the terror in her eyes all too real. "What if she drops me on my head?"

"She's fifteen," Wallace reminded her.

"She might have a point, though," Lisia commented from Flannery's couch, where she and her Altaria had been sitting ever since she had arrived. "What can two people who can't get into bars do around here, anyway?"

Flannery's eyes narrowed. "I'm old enough to get into bars."

Lisia's answer was short and to the point. "But we all know they won't let you in, you're in your twenties but still look seventeen." Wallace struggled not to laugh, but Lisia directed her comments back to him before his friend could slap him with his own hat. "Besides, I'm grounded and she has the Gym to think about. If I follow her, I break my grounding. If she leaves me alone...well, Ali and I have made it perfectly clear that we can't be trusted. My parents are still trying to get cake batter out of the walls."

Ali looked smug, as if he was proud of the event that got Lisia grounded and dumped on Wallace for the week while her parents took care of the house. Wallace wasn't fooled.

"You won't be breaking your promise to your parents if you follow her to the Gym," he told them both. "In fact, you might learn a few strategies for your own badge quest. I'm sure she'll teach you on slow days."

"And what if they wander off when I'm in a battle?" Flannery started to protest, but he turned all of his attention on her.

"You'll be fine," he repeated, and for a moment, she relaxed. She wasn't any less angry, just less stressed. Wallace knew how his smooth voice and too-blue eyes affected those attracted to pretty men, but she never thought he'd be using those tricks on her. "You work with fire-breathing monsters for a living, and you're fantastic at it. A teenage girl and an obnoxious bird shouldn't be too different."

Lisia stuck out her tongue. Ali cried out in protest. Flannery forced her scowl to stay in place, looking very much like an angry Vulpix.

"And why can't Steven or Winona babysit your niece for you?"

"Because Steven is getting involved, too," Wallace answered immediately, "and you were...a safer option than Winona."

"You just pointed out that I work with fire-breathing monsters, and you think I'm safer than a bird trainer?"

Wallace didn't answer that. "Please?"

Flannery grumbled something inappropriate under her breath, but gave up. "Fine, if I have to."

"Just like when I proposed," Wallace said, somehow keeping a straight face at the reference to their inside joke, and seemed proud of himself when hers cracked. It did not last when looked back at Lisia and Ali. "Behave yourselves," he warned, "and stay out of the kitchen, I don't want to have to pay for any damages."

Lisia made a half-hearted promise, which was good enough.

He hadn't given either of them the full story, only that Champion business had come up and he was needed to help save the world. The Space Center had called asking for Champions, and Champions alone had answered. He and Steven would investigate and try to stop whatever was going on, and they had promised to not send all of Hoenn into a panic. Letting Lisia know would just be getting Brendan and May and Wally involved, and Wallace and Steven did not want to deal with that. Keeping them all on this side of Hoenn was what they'd agreed on.

They were grown men. They could handle a meteor. They weren't entirely sure if they could handle Team Breakneck trying to help.

* * *

Tate and Liza were not the world's strongest human psychics. That honor went to the Gym Leader in Saffron City, her father, and one or two of her students. But the twins _were_ strong enough to read the terror coming from the space center. And, like any bored children looking for something to do, they made up stories as to what the source was.

"It has to do with space," Liza said, twirling her hair around her finger as she stared through the window of their break room. "We know that. But is it something small, like one of the Litleonids expected to hit the Center, or something big, like an alien invasion?"

"Did you not feel the _force_ of their fear?" Tate challenged. "It's got to be something like a space virus, or a cosmic entity bent on possessing one of the most powerful psychics on the planet. Think the Phoenix Force."

"You're such a nerd!" Liza whined, flopping next to her brother on the couch in their break room. "Space viruses? Really?"

"How do you know I didn't peek into the future for it?"

"Because you would have offered to make a bet on it." That was the good side about being telepathically linked. She might not have heard his thoughts at every moment (and she was positive that she did not want to) but she could get just enough to know how stacked particular odds were.

For his part, Tate wasn't going to complain. "I should have known not to challenge you," he said instead, leaning back against the couch and pulling a comic book from the pile.

He had just started to get pulled into the story when there was a sharp sound coming from Liza's Pokenav. They both jumped up, startled by the noise, but Liza looked to see who it was.

"Why would May be calling us?" she asked him, as if he had a clue. But she took the call anyway. "Hello, May. What happened?"

"Something needs to happen for me to call?" May sounded genuinely confused. "I was just wondering if the Space Center would allow underage kids to stay up past curfew to watch the Litleonids, that's all. Brendan's parents gave us their tickets."

So she didn't know anything about what was going on at the Space Center. "I'm not sure the Space Center's going to let anyone in right now," Liza said, slowly, as if trying to find the proper words. "You might have to cancel those plans."

"But Pikachu really wants to go!"

"Break it to her gently. Tate and I will try to get answers and report back to you." Tate looked up again at the sound of his name, and Liza just smiled reassuringly for both of them. "Something's going on over there, but we'll get to the bottom of it. We're your insiders at the League."

"Sounds like a plan." They could almost see May's smile at the other end. "Agent Songbird signing off."

Both girls ended the call at the same time. Liza looked out the window, only to find a challenger approaching. "After this battle, we go investigate the Space Center," she decided. "We might get lucky and get Gym Leader passes."

Tate had an entirely different line of thought. "Why did they decide to give everyone nicknames, again?"

"Because we're young and stupid."

"Good point." And they walked back into the main building, silently rehearsing their synchronized act once again.


	2. A Mysterious Character

**Who is Zinnia? What are her motives? Does Brendan even care?**

Brendan and May left the house together. She was going to pick up her Absol, he was heading off to Petalburg to join Norman at the Gym. It was going to be just like any other morning.

So naturally, the woman with the Whismur standing right outside the door, hand outstretched as if to knock, threw them both into defense mode.

The woman was the first to laugh. "Talk about timing," she said with a bright smile. "I was just thinking about you two."

"You know us?" Brendan asked uncertainly.

"Of course I do. It's no secret when someone becomes honorary Champion, only when the title passes. And everyone I know saw the Rayquaza fly over Sootopolis."

Brendan couldn't decide whether to send out his faithful Blaziken or his recently-evolved Metagross for defense purposes, but May stopped him.

"And who are you supposed to be?" she asked, and the woman looked down at her Whismur.

"I did get a bit ahead of myself," she admitted. "I'm Zinnia, and this is Aster. We came to ask for a demonstration of your use of Mega Evolution."

Yeah, there was definitely something suspicious going on here. "Sorry," Brendan said, nearly retreating back into the house and stepping on May's foot by accident, "but neither of those names are familiar, and we don't give out demonstrations to just anyone."

Zinnia only looked mildly disappointed. "I wasn't expecting it. I know who you are, and that's good enough for now. But I hear you've got your own supposedly criminal organization. Is it true?"

"Why are you bringing that up?" May asked, and Zinnia faked innocence. Brendan immediately didn't trust her - that was _his_ move, and only initiated Team Breakneck members could copy it. May didn't notice. "Is there something debatably legal you need Team Breakneck to accomplish?"

Zinnia laughed like a child. "Oh, you kids are just too cute. No, I don't really need your help, but it's always nice to know that people would be willing!" She smiled as Aster let out a cheerful Whismur-cry. "I've changed my mind, but you know? We'll probably meet again. Small town and all."

And, with barely a goodbye, she left, taking the Pokémon with her. May turned to Brendan, horror in her eyes. "What." The word wasn't even a question.

"Don't think too hard," Brendan told her immediately. "You might get a brain cramp trying to make sense of it all."

May rolled her eyes. "Just like when dealing with Archie and Maxie."

* * *

Wally probably should have paid more attention to Dusky's behavior back in Petalburg Woods. Maybe he would have known to go hide in the Gym and convince Norman to be his bodyguard and tag battle partner.

Instead, he was facing down not one but two people, in uniform, that had cornered him before realizing the other one was there, and now they were glaring at each other. And this was less than five minutes after he'd discovered that he'd been robbed while he was out.

The man was huge. Tall and muscled beyond belief, Wally simultaneously decided he was built like a Machoke and wished he would put on a shirt. The woman was much smaller and wasn't built like a warrior princess to make up for it, but there was something sinister about her very aura that put him off. She wasn't a Kirlia, she was a Mismagius.

But even more concerning than that was that he thought Brendan and May had put a stop to this insanity two years ago.

Dusky, who had been walking beside him on their way to Littleroot and had likewise been cornered, was feeling less concerned and more vindicated. **"I told you so,"** he said, looking pointedly at the human boy. **"First the Wurmple, then the robber, and now _these_ guys. You are a danger magnet, Wally."**

Wally, not understanding a word, just focused on the other humans. "If you're going to kill each other, can you do it somewhere you won't be blocking someone's path?" He gestured behind them. "I will have no problem calling Brendan and May. You remember them, don't you?"

"Give it a rest, lettuce-head," the buff man hissed. "You know what I'm here for."

"No," Wally said, though he could guess. "I don't."

"Your Key Stone, you idiot! Hand it over!"

"And what makes you think you should get it?" The woman didn't sound as angry as Wally had expected, but she was certainly packing a lot of determination. "You aren't the only one with a grudge against those kids. I'm doing this for Maxie."

"And I'm doing this for Archie!" The man jabbed one large finger in her face, but she didn't even flinch. "He's my best friend! You think I wanted to see him suffer like that?"

"And do you think I am an emotionless robot?"

Wally cleared his throat. Dusky looked away pointedly. But Matt, of course, dared to speak again. "Well, if the hood fits."

"And I'm done here," Wally said, reaching for his Gallade's ball to forcibly remove these people from his presence. "I don't have my Key Stone. Go home."

"We all know you can use Mega Evolution," Courtney cut in. "Just give it to _me_ , and there won't be any trouble."

"I don't have it," Wally repeated. "You missed your chance. I'm giving you a warning. I WILL get Team Breakneck involved."

Matt stopped for a moment. "Team Breakneck? You're still doing that stupid thing?"

"You're still involved with your teams," Wally pointed out.

"And they're pathetic compared to ours."

Matt and Courtney both got distracted at the new voice, and simultaneously turned to see a grinning Brendan and giggling May standing right behind them. Wally looked just as surprised, but pretended he'd been in on it the whole time.

"These guys giving you trouble, Agent Broface?" Brendan asked, and Wally cringed.

"Please don't call me that." He hadn't been given a COOL codename, like Lisia's 'Dancing Shadow,' or even one that made sense, like Sneakers or Songbird. As fun as being in a crime-fighting organization was on paper, Brendan's relentless mockery made 'Broface' the most annoying thing he'd ever encountered.

Well, the second most annoying thing, his childhood illness being the first. By a very narrow margin.

Brendan shrugged. "You can get a new codename, but it'll cost you."

"Discuss it later, guys," May interrupted, her hand moving toward the ball holding her Swampert. It should be easy enough to wipe down Courtney with him alone. "I think protecting Wally is more important than his codename."

"So you're going to step in?" Matt asked, and laughed. "Sounds easy enough, I've gotten stronger over the last few years. And when I win, I'll take _your_ Key Stone."

"You mean when I win," Courtney corrected. "I suggest a free-range battle - you, me, and the girl."

"Double battle," Brendan insisted. "May and I fight as a team, just like we always have."

"But we don't," Matt told him.

"Then you're right. It should be easy."

He sent out Metagross, May used Jerry. Once the expected Camerupt and Sharpedo were out, Dusky sat down and watched.

 _This_ was no disaster. Not for Brendan and May.

* * *

Surprising no one, Brendan and May won. They didn't even use Mega Evolution.

Courtney was the first to recover from her loss. "I'll be at Meteor Falls," she announced, like she didn't care who followed her. "I'll look for my own Key Stone."

"They come from Meteor Falls?" Matt didn't waste time, and ran away, clearly hoping to get his hands on one before Courtney could. Realizing what he was doing, Courtney followed, walking away at a normal pace.

"Well," Wally said after a moment of silence, reaching for his Key Stone before remembering it wasn't there, "thanks for helping me out."

"You could have handled it yourself," May said, waving a hand.

"Did you see Matt?" Wally shuddered. "He's built like a dump truck and his fist is the size of my head!"

"His fist is the size of my Aggron's head," Brendan agreed. "If you break her horns off, anyway."

"But how did you lose your Key Stone?" May asked. "Does Gallade know?"

"Gallade knows. I think he blames himself, but that's just the protective instincts kicking in." Wally nodded at Dusky. "Your Absol tried to warn me, but I was the one that left it in the house when we went out. It's my fault, not Gallade's."

Dusky picked up his own ball and moved up to May, where he picked out Wally's Magnezone and sent it rolling back to him. He liked Wally enough, but in times like this, he preferred to be with his own trainer.

"I'll stay here and protect my parents," Wally decided, continuing a conversation Brendan wasn't sure they'd been having. "Your dad and I can handle the town's defense, Brendan."

"We'll go ahead and look out for any Key Stone users we know," May replied. They definitely made plans while Brendan was watching the Absol. "Starting with Lisia, who might get a message in with Wallace, who can probably pass it on to Steven."

"Assemble the team, Broface," Brendan said, watching Dusky return to his ball. "You get down on that, and _we_ will figure out what Matt and Courtney were doing...and if they were following orders."

Though the codename filled him with disgust, Wally agreed without question. He trusted Brendan and May to track down his Key Stone, and that was more important.

* * *

Now that she thought about it, being a Gym Leader was just like Lisia had imagined it. Her babysitter had trusted her enough to let her come to the Gym and make friends with the challengers, so she had been sitting in the stands for nearly half an hour.

Of course, since Lisia was in normal clothes instead of her performance costume, and even though the hair band that held her Key Stone was still in place, she wasn't as easily recognized. If she wasn't recognized, then she tended not to make very many friends. How did she even start conversations that weren't about Contests? Was it as easy as asking for battle advice, or were there unspoken rules she'd forgotten?

Ali wasn't having much trouble at all. He had quite clearly developed a small crush on the current challenger's Pelipper, and was currently mourning her defeat by sulking in the corner. Lisia, on the other hand, knew he'd be over the Pelipper in a day and continued to watch the battle in silence.

Flannery had given up trying to act tough, at least. Brendan had mentioned that it had been a problem two years ago. Now she just did what came naturally, and Lisia attempted to memorize her strategy.

The sound of the alert startled all of them - Lisia, Flannery, Ali, and the challenger. Giving a quick, frantic apology, Lisia stepped outside to answer the call.

Wally spoke first, and the greeting was in a deeper voice than his usual range. That, combined with how he called her Dancing Shadow instead of her name, told her right away that there was a problem that Team Breakneck needed to solve.

"Do you still have your Key Stone?"

"My Key Stone?" Lisia repeated, reaching up against her will to touch the item in question. "Why? Don't you still have yours?"

"No, it's gone." Wally's voice was no longer falsely deep. "I left it at home when I went to test May's Absol for potential breeding, and it was gone by the time I went to give him back."

"Huh." Lisia carefully removed her hair band, making sure the stone wasn't fake. "I'm sure Wallace still had his when he left on his Champion mission..."

"Champion mission?"

Didn't Wally already enter the Hall of Fame? "Aren't you and Brendan tagging along?"

"No, we're not. What mission?"

"He and Steven got a call to investigate something at the Mossdeep Space Center," Lisia said, trying to keep cool. "They're probably just dealing with an extraterrestrial Pokémon, or something. Like Solrock and Lunatone."

"If it was a Solrock and Lunatone, you'd think they wouldn't need two Champions and a bunch of rocket scientists."

"If it was something bigger," Lisia countered, "you'd think that you and Brendan might have been called in for help. Four Champions are better than two."

"We're investigating the Key Stone disappearance and the revival of the Teams from two years ago," Wally told her, not in the mood for debate. "Pass on the message to Wallace and Steven, and anyone else you know with a Key Stone. Matt and Courtney are collecting them, but a third person got mine."

Lisia promised him that she'd do exactly that, the wheels in her head already turning. By the time the call had ended, so had the match, and both of the other humans had left. The only living thing in the room was Ali.

It almost looked like a trap.

Lisia immediately called him into his ball and ran to the break room where she knew the Gym Leader was healing her Pokémon. She needed an adult to help guard her Key Stone while she told Wallace to look out for his own.


	3. One Stupid Plan

**Now you know why our heroes never returned to Rustboro.**

Wallace and Steven arrived at the Mossdeep Space Center at the same time that Tate and Liza did. The Gym Leaders seemed to know something was wrong, but they refused to speak to anyone but Professor Cozmo, who they had discovered was the reason behind it all.

Of course, the professor refused to cooperate with them. "I'm afraid you're too young to get involved in this," Cozmo told them, all the while gesturing to Wallace and Steven to follow him upstairs. "Besides, your schedule -"

"Is clear for the afternoon," Tate interruted, as if he was putting the final say in an argument. "We need something else to do."

"We might blow up the town in boredom otherwise," Liza added, turning on the sweetness to counter her brother's seriousness.

The Champions didn't look convinced on this, but the professor did. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he decided to tell them himself. "It seems as though we have no other choice. Kids, there is a meteor coming straight down to the planet, and I'm not sure if we can survive the impact."

"But don't they burn up in the atmosphere?" Liza asked, switching into her own serious face.

"In most cases," Steven explained. "This one is bigger than the ones that we usually see. Much bigger."

Tate tried to find a screen that could tell him the answer, but when he found none, he decided to just come out and ask. "Majora's moon big?"

"Roughly," said the professor, not happy at all.

"So what are they here for?" Liza asked, gesturing at the two Champions.

"I had hoped that they could use their Pokémon to force it back into space, figuring a Hydro Pump and Psywave combination, coming from Mega forms, should at the very least slow it own. But while you were all on your way here, I realized that the problem was much bigger than we were expecting."

"I'll say," Wallace stated unnecessarily. "What can we do now?"

"Get Team Breakneck involved," Steven answered for everybody. The twins looked surprised - that was going to be _their_ suggestion. "I know Lisia is grounded and more of an infiltration operative in the first place, but Wally can be trusted, and Brendan and May can out-stubborn just about anything."

"Out-destroy, anyway," Liza commented. "What about us?"

"You will be the public faces," Steven told them. "Try to keep the people in the dark. Wallace, stand guard over Sky Pillar - if she tries to open it, she'll have to get through you. Professor, you will be the intelligence. As for me..." he held out his Pokenav, a special edition he'd had made for himself. "I will be mission control. I have been in the Hall of Fame the longest, after all."

Wallace was about to comment on that, but that was when Lisia called him, and he went with the distraction. "You haven't ruined _her_ kitchen already, have you?"

"This isn't time for teasing," Lisia said, surprisingly serious. "Wally lost his Key Stone and I'm worried about mine. Are you and Steven done with the Champion thing yet?"

"Not...entirely," Wallace lied, turning his attention back to Steven, who was telling Brendan and May to meet him in Rustboro. "We're going to need reinforcements. You'll get the full story when it's over."

"And you and Steven will keep hold of your Key Stones, right?"

"I'll even trade stones with Gyarados," Wallace promised. "We can stand to lose the Gyaradosite, I know where to find a replacement."

"And can you ask my parents to un-ground us so Ali and I can help out?"

"Your parents are cleaning cake batter _out_ of the walls _._ Not _off_ of them."

"I'll take that as a no."

* * *

Brendan and May rode Latias to Rustboro, on Steven's suggestion. It was a habit now, soaring over Hoenn, and they knew that Metagross couldn't reach the same altitude and that Fly would have blurred the world around them to the point where they couldn't see. But Latias, flying as high as a human's lungs would allow her to go, was slower and more gentle, and gave them the best view of Petalburg Woods as they flew over it.

They landed in front of the Pokémon Center, the designated drop-off for trainers, and from there it was a short walk to the Devon building. Steven was waiting for them, and he did not seem surprised at how fast they were.

"I just used Fly from Mossdeep," he said, "but then, you were closer, weren't you?"

"Just tell us why we're needed," Brendan ordered, and May nudged him to keep his manners under control.

"It isn't something we should discuss in public," Steven warned. "Anyone can be watching. More than that, if we move inside, we should be more protected from all attempts to steal our...stuff." He touched his Key Stone, making sure it was still there. So Wally and Lisia had passed on the message.

"Inside, then," May said, and let Steven lead the way to his father's office.

Mr. Stone had been told of the mission. He wasn't surprised at all as Steven gave the kids the details, and in fact took over the story to something that shocked even his son.

"Three thousand years ago," he started, and May leaned forward automatically. Brendan rolled his eyes. Writers. "There was a great war in a land far from here. The war was ended by one man, but at a terrible price. It took the life energy of Pokémon."

"Sounds familiar," May said, not even flinching. Of course it sounded familiar to her, she was really into mythology. "But what does one man's actions from ancient times have to do with us now?"

"My grandfather," was the answer. "He suggested using that energy to improve the lives of people and Pokémon."

"So he planned to take the life energy of Pokémon...to make the lives of Pokémon easier." Brendan's eyebrows scrunched the same way May's did when she was thinking too hard about things. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"I had the same reaction when I was your age," Mr. Stone said with a sad laugh. "So he created Infinity Energy. With the help of Infinity Energy, Devon rose to be the giant you recognize today. The Devon parts you delivered two years ago made it possible to run a submarine on Infinity Energy."

"Your company's shady, man."

"Believe what you will." He didn't want to think about it too much, Brendan could tell that from his voice. "We continued trying to better the lives of people and Pokémon alike -"

"Pokémon you weren't harvesting for Infinity Energy," Brendan interrupted.

May shoved him again, harder this time. "Stop it."

"- and we made it to space," Mr. Stone finished, pretending the interruption had never occurred. "We launched rockets from Mossdeep Space Center. And now, we plan to use it to save the world."

The silence was longer than before.

"What."

That was as good as anything, Brendan decided.

"Steven and his friend Wallace were called in to stop an asteroid," Mr. Stone told them. "When they realized that the asteroid was six miles in diameter, the plan changed from 'send Champions to stop it from making a crater' to 'throw everything we've got at keeping it from the planet.' We are devising countermeasures to deal with this problem, but..."

"You want our Pokémon for Infinity Energy."

"Stop _talking!_ " May snapped.

"We were planning to use a Meteorite shard." Mr. Stone must be used to being interrupted, as he remained unfazed by both Brendan's comment and May's outburst.

"Wallace and I were _at_ the Space Center, Dad," Steven complained. "You could have told me there!"

"What are the odds that they would have one lying around?" Mr. Stone nodded at the kids. "You two will go to Granite Cave near Dewford," he instructed. "And you, Steven, will return to the Space Center with the Link Cable."

"So we're saving the world with _untested_ technology," Steven said, and his father didn't blink. "Sounds like a great idea."

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Steven, but I will take that as a yes."

Steven was equally trained in the art of ignoring commentary, and took his turn giving orders to the heroes. "Back where we first met, there were shards of meteorite surrounding the cave paintings. I remember thinking about taking one on my way out, but then you gave me the letter and I forgot to grab it. I'm sure there are some left."

Brendan glanced at his battle partner, and was not surprised to see that she already had her legendary's ball in her hand. So his decision was already made for him.

* * *

Latias dropped them off just outside of Granite Cave, and they knew exactly where to go. It didn't hurt that the cave was nowhere near as big as they remembered, or that Brendan had sent out Aggron so that she could lead them around her place of birth as well as scare away anything that looked in their direction.

The trouble came when they saw the woman and the Whismur.

"So it is true," Zinnia said to Aster, not hearing them approach. "Our ancestors were here, too. Their prophecies are _weird,_ though."

"Prophecies?" May questioned, and Zinnia jumped.

"Did you..." Zinnia gave Aster a horrified glance, as if thinking the Whismur had just spoken to her, but then she turned back to the heroes. "Oh, it's just you two." She smiled, faking innocence again. "I told you we'd meet again. Are you interested in this painting, too?" She met Brendan's eyes, and he felt his blood go cold at the guarded stare. That was a fast mood swing. "Or are you here for the meteorite shards?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," he answered, pretending he wasn't intimidated. "Why are _you_ interested in those things?"

"It's simple. I'm part of the tribe responsible for one, and I've heard the other is a great source of power for the heavenly Pokémon." She switched back to real happiness. "But that's all you need to know. You know I'm only telling you these things because you're cute, right?"

"I'm an honorary Champion," Brendan reminded her. "I am not 'cute,' I am FEARED."

"Keep telling yourself that," May said under her breath.

Zinnia laughed out loud. Even Aster joined in. "That's it," she said, tugging her cape back into its proper place. "I have to battle you. Both of us doing our best. What do you say, Champion? Defend your title!"

Brendan was still a little creeped out, but he picked his first Pokémon anyway. "Why not. Adam, do the thing!"

As his much-loved Blaziken took the field, Zinnia picked her opening Pokémon. It was not Aster.

It was a giant dinosaur. Zinnia called it a Tyrantrum. All Brendan knew was that it didn't look like anything he'd seen in Hoenn or Johto.

"Um...Double Kick?"

He'd underestimated this woman. There was no doubt about that.

* * *

Brendan won, but barely.

He had nothing super effective against her team of Dragon-types. He had resorted to using Metagross and its resistance. In return, she didn't even use Aster in battle, instead letting her cheer for the dragons just like May cheered for Brendan.

After it was over, Zinnia returned her Salamence, still happy despite her loss. "I was hoping I'd get to see your Mega," she said, "but the rest of the battle was exactly what I was hoping for."

"I'm trying to keep the Mega Evolution thing a secret," Brendan said, and Zinnia nodded in understanding.

"I totally understand. There are Key Stone thieves out there." She smiled and reached into the bag she had hidden under her cape. "We've got this, though. You can have it. Consider it a prize for defeating me."

As Brendan took the shard from her, it caught the light in a way that most physics experts would call impossible. He wiped the thought from his head, and put the shard in his bag.

"I'd be careful, though," Zinnia warned, and the kids stopped their celebration to watch. She was serious now, and almost sad. "You're so young, and think you have the fate of the world on your shoulders."

"We kind of did once before," May pointed out.

"But can you honestly say that you don't want help this time?"

"We have Steven and Wallace and all of Devon. We're good."

Zinnia's lips pressed together, but Aster poked her in the leg, and she immediately switched back to her other personality. "Well, if you think you can do it again, you're welcome to try. Just bring a backup plan or two, ok?"

"Fine," Brendan and May said together, and Zinnia left the cave.

Once she was positive that even Aster was out of earshot, May made eye contact with Brendan. "I don't know what it is about her, but you're right. I don't trust her."

"But at least she gave us what we came here for." He turned around and started on his way, letting Aggron out again to point him to the exit hole. "Let's get back to Rustboro and give this to Mr. Stone. Maybe he'll give us more information...and hopefully a shorter story."


	4. Partially Clearing the Confusion

**Zinnia is explained, but Brendan remains indifferent.**

Steven called to tell them to meet him at the Mossdeep Space Center. They decided to drop the Meteorite Shard off there, with Steven and Professor Cozmo.

They weren't expecting to see the local Gym Leaders there.

Tate and Liza had insisted on knowing what was going on, and with a little bit of help from Jedi mind tricks, they had managed to convince Steven and Professor Cozmo that it was a good idea, and had even gotten permission to hold the Meteorite that had earned Brendan and May their codenames two years earlier.

Tate immediately turned over to May. "You're in charge, right?" he asked, to her confusion. Picking up on that, he felt the need to explain. "We don't trust Brendan. With our lives, sure, but not with power."

"I feel the same way," she replied, rolling her eyes a bit. "I can't stress that enough, but he's determined to get himself a legendary."

A mental image that had nothing to do with psychic powers slammed into his mind: Brendan with Groudon, riding on top of it and stomping through the ocean on a bridge they had forced up. "Stop him," he said immediately, not bothering to keep the fear out of his voice.

Liza cleared her throat, diverting the attention. "Professor," she said, looking up at Cozmo, "you said you had more information about the asteroid?"

"I didn't say that." The professor was confused by the statement. "I said I would clear up the plan for you. Steven mentioned that his father wasn't giving out details."

"Just really long stories and confusing orders," Brendan confirmed.

"Well, then. I assume you know that we are planning to use Infinity Energy to launch a rocket into a giant asteroid."

"Which makes no sense," Brendan finished, to Steven's amusement. "What other science-induced stupidity do you have in store for us?"

Professor Cozmo narrowed his eyes, and it was only the other children ganging up on Brendan that made him carry on with the explanation. "We also plan to use the human energy found in Key Stones to replicate the energy found in Mega Evolution."

That made sense, in a "We do what we must, because we can" sort of way. Brendan was still confused.

"Then," Cozmo continued, "we will use that energy to create a warp hole. Once that warp hole is created, we can launch the asteroid far away. The technology already exists inside warp panels, the Pokémon transfer system, and the Link Cable that Steven brought us."

"So you're going to turn it around to destroy some other planet?" May asked.

"Something like that, yes."

"And would this planet be inhabited?"

"We don't know. Hopefully not, but if so, let's hope they will have the technology to destroy the asteroid for good."

Steven was facepalming hard. "The Link Cable is still untested," he stated. "I cannot _believe_ I have to keep repeating that to the people who developed it."

" _That's_ the problem you have with this?" Brendan gestured at the sky. "This is _morally wrong,_ Steven."

"And that's coming from Brendan," May added. "You have to know it's stupid if he can see it."

"It is not entirely untested," Cozmo defended himself. "We already make good use of warp panels and especially the Pokémon transfer system. All the Link Cable does is transport things farther away than just the other side of Hoenn. But I'll admit, we need more energy. Tate, why don't you take the Meteorite that I gave you and see if you can find -"

"So this is the heart of the famous Space Center," a woman's voice interrupted. "It's actually nice, isn't it, Aster?"

Every head in the room turned to watch as Zinnia and her Whismur approached, looking around in awe. The twins both tensed, as if there were something their powers picked up on before their main thought process could. Brendan and May could relate.

Steven noticed how defensive all of the kids were, and made a note to investigate her. But his interrogation was silenced by the guard from the bottom of the stairs.

"You're not allowed up here, Miss," the guard said, but Zinnia pointedly ignored her and continued looking.

"It's so _sciencey,_ " Zinnia continued, as if Aster was having a conversation with her. "Not my personal preference, but I can totally see the appeal here."

"Who are you?" Steven asked, and Zinnia paid him more attention.

"I'm just someone interested in your technology, that's all." Zinnia smiled brightly. "And I know you. Former Champion of Hoenn and heir to the Devon Corporation."

"You're no sightseer. I could tell by the way these children acted."

"It's nothing," Liza insisted, though she still hadn't unclenched her fist.

"Nothing _sinister,_ " her brother clarified, even while speaking through his teeth.

Well, they seemed to know what they were talking about, so May relaxed just a little. So Zinnia wasn't evil, merely untrustworthy.

"See?" Zinnia said, nodding in their direction. "The Gym Leaders know what they're talking about. Listen to the psychics, guys."

"They're psychic, but they're young."

"They're in Team Breakneck," Zinnia reminded him. "I saw it that stupid mermaid movie they made two years ago. If they're old enough to join a group of not-so-secret agents, they're old enough to know when to let me in here."

"We never said you could stay," Tate cut in.

"So you're keeping a tourist out of the second most popular building in your town? I just want to see space, that's all." She looked around again, and saw the diagram of the warp hole that Cozmo had discarded. "So this is what you're planning, is it? Making a light show to attract more extraterrestrial Pokémon?"

"That is a highly confidential blueprint," Professor Cozmo objected.

Zinnia ignored him, too. Anything less than 'Team Breakneck operative' was not worthy of her attention, apparently.

"The energy of this rocket..." she said, once again more to herself and Aster than the people around her. "Saying that it's best for humanity, I'll bet. Best for the world, even."

"I'll have you know -" the professor started, but Zinnia looked directly at Steven.

"Do you know how dangerous this move is?" she asked him, quickly switching to fury.

Steven wasn't surprised by this. "That what we're doing is a particularly dangerous trial run? Yes, I have considered that. But would you rather wait around for an asteroid to destroy our planet?"

"You're not Champion anymore," Zinnia snapped, and turned to Brendan. "You don't hold the job, but perhaps you'll do better. Do _you_ think this is a good idea?"

Brendan looked at May. May shrugged hopelessly. "I think this idea is one of the dumbest I've ever heard," he stated. As Zinnia looked smug, he quickly added, "but we have no other plans ready. What else can you do when something that big wants to kill you?"

Zinnia turned her attention to May, seeming to know that she was the one holding Brendan's leash. May took a deep breath, getting ready for the inevitable rage. "Brendan and I disagree on a lot of things," she said, giving Zinnia a brief flicker of hope. "But the majority of those things are unimportant, and compromise-worthy. This is not one of those things. I stand with my friends."

Just as she'd expected, Zinnia's cheerful face turned serious. "Oh," she said shortly. "I thought that with all of this technology and knowledge at your fingertips, you would choose a path that was entirely new, and not a mistake from the ancient past. I was mistaken. You people have rocket scientists willing to work on this, and you choose to remake the world's biggest mistake. Even the writer, a talent that relies on creativity, someone who can make entire worlds out of ink and paper, can't even think of a new solution."

"Real solutions involve real people," May said flatly. "And inspiration is fleeting. I can't think of something in just a few days. And I don't think the scientists can build it."

She'd seen Zinnia's bait, and refused to get hooked. She wasn't flattered enough to not be creeped out knowing just how much Zinnia had learned about her and Brendan, and was not stupid enough to not put together that it was a comment meant to bring her to Zinnia's side of the argument.

But at least Zinnia could tell when the discussion was over. "Well, then, I'll leave you to it. If you think you have better ideas, I'll be right there to watch them fail." She looked down at Aster, no longer intimidating. "Come on, darling. Let's go get ice cream." Her mood shifted back to anger. "With sprinkles," she added in a hiss.

Aster cheerfully followed her down the stairs, not caring that her trainer was crazy. Steven immediately took action. "As creepy as she was, she made good points," he decided. "We'll keep this plan in mind, but we should all work to think of better ones as we're pulling it together. Do you have an idea where to go?"

"I found that first meteorite in Meteor Falls," Professor Cozmo said. "If you look hard enough, you should find another."

Matt and Courtney had gone to Meteor Falls. From their previous experiences with Hoenn's other teams, they had a feeling that they'd encounter at least one of them there.

But they had Steven this time. Maybe a Champion would be enough to stop them before they started.

* * *

Steven had taken the lead on the way to Meteor Falls and had kept it on the inside of the cave, illegally using his Skarmory's Fly. Brendan and May followed him on Latias, but the speed of the move was too fast for Latias to catch up with the weight of two humans on her back, and they were eventually left to find the right cavern on their own.

When they finally caught up to Steven, he was talking to an old woman with a meteorite shard in his hand. He waved them forward with a short explanation: "This woman might have new ideas," he said, and the kids landed, but kept Latias out for extra protection. "She's a descendant of the ancient Draconid people. They had stories about our current situation."

"We had more than stories," the woman insisted. "We had answers. We were tasked with passing the knowledge of Mega Evolution down through the years, the lore of the great Lord Rayquaza, who was the beginning of all."

"I thought Arceus was the Pokémon mythology pinned as the creator god," Brendan said.

"I think she means the beginning of Mega Evolution," May corrected him. "That lines up more with what I've read."

"Five points from Ravenclaw for interrupting."

" _Ten_ points from Slytherin for being an idiot."

"You really need someone unbiased to give and take House points," Steven told them, and they both went quiet.

The old woman didn't seem to mind the distraction, instead going for the explanation that Steven had clearly asked of her. "We Draconids have survived many disasters in our time," she told them. "Some of them took the form of an asteroid heading right for us. Other times, it was the Primal Reversion of Groudon and Kyogre - almost Mega Evolution, but not quite."

"Good thing Archie and Maxie didn't find that out, huh?" Brendan poked May in the shoulder.

"We shouldn't talk about it with Matt and Courtney still out there," she warned. Agreeing completely, Brendan dropped it. May continued asking the questions. "So how did you stop those disasters? How is the planet still standing?"

"A chosen Lorekeeper made a wish and summoned Lord Rayquaza with a rainbow stone. The Lorekeeper would ask Rayquaza to assist in what needed to be done, and in a flash of light, Rayquaza transformed."

"Rayquaza can Mega Evolve?" Brendan was amazed that he could keep his voice at conversation level, he was that excited about this information. "And its Mega form was even stronger than Mega Groudon and Mega Kyogre?"

"Primal," the woman corrected him. "It's called the Primal Reversion. It's not quite like Mega Evolution."

"So Rayquaza has a Primal Reversion?"

"No, Rayquaza can Mega Evolve."

Brendan groaned in frustration. He knew he should have followed Matt and Courtney instead of Steven. This was starting to get confusing. At least he could pretend he understood the plan, but this? This was something he actually almost cared about.

"So Rayquaza was the first Pokémon to Mega Evolve," Steven summarized. "Through the actions of the Lorekeeper. So how can we..."

"The Lorekeeper is the one who has inherited the knowledge of summoning Lord Rayquaza," the old woman said. "The Lorekeeper of this generation is Zinnia."

"And that is the most predictable plot twist of this adventure." May nodded at her legendary, and Latias agreed. "I knew something was up with her, I just couldn't tell what."

"It's also the least confusing thing I've heard from an adult since Dad handed me the tickets," Brendan added. "It actually clears things up instead of making them worse."

Again, the old woman pretended she hadn't heard it. "Zinnia had her own ideas for how to summon Rayquaza. At first she thought that igniting the conflict between Groudon and Kyogre would be enough, but she didn't know how to do it alone - so she sent mystery information to two different teams. She was quite annoyed when a pair of twelve-year-olds managed to get it done before she could."

"We had adult supervision," Brendan reassured her. "Where's Zinnia now?"

"She's dedicated herself to searching the region for Key Stones," the woman said. "It would be difficult to find her."

"Not unless we had bait." May looked up at Steven hopefully. "If she's taking Key Stones, what are the odds that we can lure them with Lisia's? You and Wallace and Brendan need yours, and she knows me too well. Do you think that, if I promised to give Lisia mine..."

"Lisia and Ali are known for Mega Evolving in performances," Steven agreed, but he wasn't going for the plan. "But you're forgetting, her connections to you, Brendan, and Wallace do not make her an easy target."

"But she got Wally's, and he's our friend!"

"Wally didn't have his Key Stone with him when he got robbed," Brendan reminded her, though his eyes never left the old woman. "So did Zinnia have a plan? When Wallace opened the seal on the Sky Pillar, he found Rayquaza already there. Why does she have to summon it?"

"I found Rayquaza in the Cave of Origin when I was your age," Steven said, reminding them of their ultimately useless trip into that very cave during their first and final visit to Sootopolis. "Even then, it can relocate to wherever it wants to go, just like any wild Pokémon. But I have Wallace standing guard outside of Sky Pillar, and with luck, he can hold her off long enough to at least get your friend's Key Stone back."

"If your friend can open the seal on the Sky Pillar, wish him luck." The old woman smiled bitterly. "Zinnia can and will get past him. If not by force, then by stealth. I taught her too well."

"But is she really willing to sacrifice people and Pokémon for her goal?"

"Everything has its price," said the woman. "What would you sacrifice for protection?"

"We don't have time to get philosophical!" Brendan turned around and headed for the exit, leading Latias along behind him. May apologized and followed, and was the one to give out the command to leave the cave.

Steven stayed longer. "If Zinnia were to force her way past my friend..."

"He'd likely survive with only mild injuries. Murder is a last resort." Her expression turned sad. "Zinnia would rather sacrifice herself."

"We'll stop it before anyone has to die," Steven decided. His own half-smile wasn't entirely joking. "Team Breakneck got involved last time. I'm sure they can settle things with a Pokémon battle."

* * *

Steven took a turn to Mossdeep first, likely to tell Cozmo and the twins about this new plot twist, and they decided that stopping by to yell at his father would be an acceptable action. This time, they even got Latias to drop them off at the Devon building.

And they were greeted by a scream.

A scientist ran out of the building, lab coat flying. They considered hiding, but before they could find a hiding place, he ran right into Brendan with a force that knocked them both to the ground.

Even worse, they recognized him. Worse than that was that he recognized them.

"You're the ones who helped me two years ago!" the scientist cried. "Please, you have to help me now!"

Brendan faked confusion. "Do we know you?"

But that was when the door to Devon opened, and they found themselves face-to-face with a man in a blue and white pirate costume. The face and costume were familiar, but the name escaped them.

Brendan gave it a shot anyway. "You, I remember. You're...uh, Buffy, right?"

"BEN-JA-MIN!" the Team Aqua grunt shouted, sending a small flock of Taillow fleeing from the roof of the Pokemart nearby. "It is NOT an uncommon name! You'd think someone other than Matt would get it right at least once..."

So he was still working with Matt. It wasn't much of a surprise. "Give me a break, man. It's been two years since I had to put up with your garbage. You really think I wouldn't forget you?"

Benjamin pulled his first Pokeball. "I was going to challenge you for the scientist," he admitted, "but now I challenge you for my honor! Pick your first Pokémon! It's time to duel!"

"That's not usually a Pokémon thing," May pointed out.

Brendan didn't care. "Aggron, do the thing!"

"Mightyena, go!"

May crossed her arms, watching the battle and acting as the scientist's bodyguard. It wasn't much of a battle - Brendan had Aggron's Rock Smash to deal with the Mightyena and a Grumpig to one-hit-KO the enemy's Golbat. And, when the grunt with the forgettable name had lost and the second grunt followed, she stepped in to take her turn.

This second grunt had a Muk. May had a legendary with a type advantage. The battle was not going to end well for him.

* * *

She had wanted to use her Mega Absol next, but the Muk was the grunt's only Pokémon. Luckily, the third grunt came right after, and Brendan responded to her hopeful look with a 'Go ahead' gesture.

She'd let Latias handle the first Pokémon, a Golbat. But the Sharpedo put her plans on hold.

"You really killed my fun," she hissed as she called Latias back, bringing out Pikachu in her place. The very same Pikachu that had launched an Electro Ball down the throat of Matt's Sharpedo. The same Pikachu that was dressed in a pretty pink shirt and skirt, a bow on her head and 'Death to my enemies' in her eyes.

Forty seconds later, Brendan was applauding and the grunt was screaming in frustration.

"It's always kind of nice when bad guys rage-quit," Brendan commented as they watched him leave. "I missed that much, at least."

"They got the Link Cable!" the scientist cried, and both heroes jumped in surprise. They'd forgotten he was there. "Why didn't you notice that?"

"I thought Steven took the Link Cable to the Mossdeep Space Center," Brendan admitted.

"He did! Well...most of it. That huge man with bulging muscles took the last part that we'd just finished, the most important part. You've stopped Team Aqua before - couldn't you do it again?"

"Do we have to?" Brendan whined, but May jabbed him in the side.

"We were going to investigate Maxie and Archie's involvement with all of this before we got dragged into Zinnia's line of crazy," she reminded him. "It wouldn't hurt to check it out."

"They probably went to the Space Center," the scientist told them, clearly thinking he was being helpful. "It is the only place where the technology could be used."

Brendan didn't want to bother, and reached for his Pokenav. "Thing 1 and Thing 2!" he ordered, and heard Tate's exasperated groan from the other end. "Sorry, Soaring Eagle and Rainbow Sprinkles. Hold down the Space Center from anyone not in on this, and especially anyone in a hood or blatantly violating the 'No Shirt, No Service' rule."

"So what do we do if Wallace comes by?"

"I think he counts as 'in on this,' Tate." Brendan had thought that Wallace would have burned the drunk genie costume by now. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"What are you going to do in the meantime?" Liza asked.

"The same thing we did last time, Liza," Brendan said seriously. "Stop a pair of maniacs from trying to take over the world."


	5. Conflict of Idiots

**We would have done a villain song for Matt and Courtney here, but they just weren't important enough. (If we had, it would have been either "Savages" from Disney's Pocahontas, with May as the title heroine, or "Dwarves vs. Giants" from Galavant.)**

May had insisted that she and Brendan make sure the twins could handle things. Brendan had complained, saying that they were Gym Leaders and should be able to handle anything, but had given in when he'd been reminded that May was the one flying Latias and was, for that reason, the one who called the shots.

So, once again, they landed in front of the Mossdeep Space Center, and immediately wished they hadn't.

Matt and Courtney each had five grunts in the lobby, and they were all battling each other for...they didn't know what. Brendan and May managed to go upstairs, hoping for an answer, and found the new team leaders locked in a debate, watched closely by Steven and the twins.

"They each want the rocket," Steven summarized as the heroes joined them. "And sharing is completely out of the question."

"Have you tried talking to them?" May asked.

Brendan snorted. "And ruin the fun?" he challenged, and she didn't bother to move.

"We tried telling them that this was for the good of the planet," Steven answered her, "but they don't seem to be paying any attention to me."

The twins made eye contact, nodded briefly, and then, in perfect synchronization as always, each of them grabbed a book from the desk of a nearby scientist and hit the Admin of the matching gender with it.

Courtney let out a cry of pain and surprise, and moved to strike at Liza, but the girl managed to see it coming and block it with the book. Matt, on the other hand, turned slowly, giving Tate the chance to back down.

Tate was young and not large at all. Barely taller than his sister and roughly as broad at the shoulders as Matt was at the waist, he could have been broken like a doll if Matt had wanted to.

"Wrong move, Broface," Matt hissed.

Tate refused to stand down. "It's Soaring Eagle, actually. Not that I expect you to care about our codenames, but I feel sorry for the guy who actually was stuck with that one, so try my name next time."

Brendan whistled innocently. May slapped him with his own hat.

"I told you people would laugh at him!" she hissed.

Matt and Courtney had both given up on understanding, and instead decided to just point the blame at each other, in true Magma/Aqua fashion.

"My bro Archie..."

"My Leader Maxie..."

"...his vision for the world was GREAT..."

"...he was going to change the world..."

"...until those brats got involved..."

"...until his defeat at _their_ hands..."

"He deserves revenge!" they both finished together.

May couldn't stop the grin. "I smell unresolved romantic tension," she teased, and Courtney looked confused for a moment before she understood and flinched at the thought.

Matt turned his angry eyes on May. "If you want to see unresolved tension, try spending seven years of your life third-wheeling Archie and Shelly. They used 'the big picture' to distract themselves, but we all saw it." He turned back to Courtney. "Now, you all can either back off, or I can make you into Pokémon trainer pancakes. Either way, I'm gonna make that rocket Mega Evolve and bring my bro's confidence back!"

There was a beat of dead silence as everyone wondered what drugs this guy was on.

"You're going to _what?_ " May shrieked, the sheer stupidity of it nearly making her bang her head on a wall. "Please tell me you have a better explanation than _that..._ "

As it turned out, he didn't. "I'm going to use the Key Stone I found at Meteor Falls to trigger the Mega Evolution energy in that rocket and make it explode! You know, for Archie! He loves watching stuff blow up!"

"Everyone does," Brendan assured him, "but why can't you just put a Twinkie in a microwave and send him the video?"

"Which is why my plan is better," Courtney declared, glaring at Matt. "I was just going to steal the rocket and let Maxie do as he wants with it. It should at least be put to better use than just 'watching stuff blow up,' as this bulk put it."

"Better use than _saving the planet?"_ Steven challenged. "Would you just listen to yourselves? This could be our last hope, and you two are fighting like children over who gets to doom the world!"

"Doom the world?" Matt repeated. "I can do that on my own! But you know what, you might be on to something here. Why just blow up the rocket when I could use that energy to bring the world back to beginnings?"

"Or enhance humanity's development," Courtney suggested, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

Steven hid his face in his hand again. "I don't know why I try with you people," he said through the fleshy barrier.

May shook her head in disappointment. "We've got this," she promised, and took a battle position across from Matt as Brendan stood across from Courtney. "We did it once. How hard could it be?"

* * *

The only new thing about those battles was that Matt and Courtney could both use Mega Evolution now. It didn't really matter, as Pikachu could still destroy Matt's Mega Sharpedo and Brendan's Grumpig was capable of defeating Courtney's Mega Camerupt even with their bonuses, but they weren't sure how they got the necessary Mega Stones from their former bosses if Archie and Maxie had both accepted their defeat.

Matt and Courtney, at least, had anticipated this reaction. What they did not anticipate was Brendan's Grumpig stealing the dimensional shifter from Matt's utility belt and tossing it at Professor Cozmo, who was being guarded by Steven.

What Brendan and May did not anticipate was the arrival of a certain Whismur, who bounced her way past the former Champion, swiped the part from Cozmo, and ran out of the room as fast as her short, stubby legs could carry her. Then they heard Zinnia's voice from the stairs.

"You're such a good girl!" she cooed. "Did you stop the big, dumb Champions from destroying the world?"

Steven and Brendan, like most people, did not like to be called dumb, and worked together to drag her inside.

"Give it back," Steven said, almost menacing. Zinnia didn't find him scary at all, and ended up working her way out of their grip and moving forward.

"So you really think this is a good idea?" she asked, the seriousness of the Lorekeeper duties breaking her usual happy personality. "I mean, I'll admit, snapping your fingers and making the asteroid disappear...or firing a rocket and relocating it, whichever way it ends up...it _is_ a good idea. For us. But what about other worlds? Either through the Multiverse Theory or just another planet, how do we even know?"

"Can we even be sure if there's another world to get destroyed?" Steven challenged right back. "You're going to need to come up with solid evidence that..."

"There's no _time_ for solid evidence!" Zinnia screeched. "I'm thinking with my emotions! Emotion trumps fact! There's a giant asteroid heading right for us, and it's getting closer every second!"

"So give me back the shifter, and we'll all be safe!"

"Is anyone else aware that _none_ of them have a good idea?" Brendan asked suddenly. "Steven, his dad, and Professor Cozmo in one corner with the potentially alternate-world-shattering device, Matt and Barney and the rest of Team Aqua's return army in another corner trying to _Mega Evolve a rocket_ , Courtney and her defective Magma grunts stealing it for Maxie to play with, and Zinnia and Aster being completely outnumbered but armed with dragons." He settled down a little, but still didn't look happy. "They're going all-out in the stupidity brawl, and they're going bar fight-style."

"It's not the ancient times anymore," Steven was trying to say. "You're not the only one who can stop this."

"I know it's _you_ who sent someone to guard Sky Pillar," Zinnia hissed, eyes narrowing at Steven. "Don't deny it. You're using him to keep me from getting there."

"How do you know Rayquaza even has the strength to answer the Draconid call this time? It was woken two years ago, it might need centuries to recharge..."

"And whose fault was it that it didn't check the skies for any problems two years ago? Your friend re-sealed the Sky Pillar, _clearly_ marking him as a dark wizard -"

Brendan suppressed a laugh. "We prefer 'drunk genie,' but that's good enough."

"Stay out of this, Brendan!" they both barked at him.

Then Zinnia spoke alone. "For generations, my people have passed down the lore of the disturbances caused by Mega Evolution, and how we can avoid disaster. Please don't make me do something that you'll regret."

Every Team Breakneck member present gave a quiet, confused "What?" in one moment - four voices, one word, and zero comprehension. Then, as Zinnia's eyes drifted to each child's face, she crushed the device in her hand.

That prompted a much louder " _What?_ " from the twins, but Brendan and May had already come to a conclusion.

Zinnia wanted to save the world. They could respect that. But if she was so determined to get her way that she wasn't even considering opposing perspectives, then she needed to be stopped.

And the fact that she swiped the Key Stone from Matt, who had not escaped through the window like Courtney had, made their decision even easier.

* * *

"Where are we going now?" Brendan asked as May steered Latias through the skies. He saw what he recognized as Lavaridge Town in the distance, and wondered if maybe they were going to get Lisia in on it, but May quickly put the idea out of his head.

"You," she said as her legendary pulled in at the base of a volcano, "are going to talk to Maxie and get information on Courtney out of him. I'm going to stop by the Team Aqua base and get some Matt info from Archie. They kind of owe us for saving them from their own stupidity, so they'll probably cooperate."

"And what if they don't?"

May thought for a while, then shrugged. "Use brute force," she decided. "Shouldn't be hard."

And, as soon as he was safely off of Latias's back, she turned around and flew off again. Brendan did not remember how to get through the Team Magma base, but he felt that since improvising had worked back then, it should work again.

Sure enough, he found Maxie's office within an hour, and what he saw made him wish he'd gotten there sooner.

Zinnia was standing there, Aster right behind her. She would have been just a visitor, if not for the reason that Brendan knew she was here. She held Maxie's Key Stone glasses in her hand.

She didn't see him immediately. "Professor glasses," she said, proudly putting the recently-stolen objects on her own face. "They make me look like a genius!"

"That's debatable," Brendan said under his breath, as Zinnia took one step forward and immediately tripped.

"Maybe not," Zinnia decided. "We should just get more, don't you think?" Aster cheered, apparently agreeing. "I got the Key Stones of both team leaders from two years ago...maybe I should go for all three?" Aster didn't like that idea, and voiced her opinion in the only way Zinnia would understand - a loud whine. "Yeah, Brendan's an honorary Champion, I can't get his. But May isn't in the Hall of Fame..."

"Touch May's Key Stone," Brendan warned, putting all the threat he could into the words, "and you'll be going home in a box."

Zinnia was expecting it, and let Aster stand beside her to have a proper conversation. "Hey, Brendan," she said with a bright smile, not even acknowledging the death threat. She knew it was an empty promise. "Not with your girlfriend, huh?"

"May's just a friend," Brendan corrected, not defensive at all. People made that assumption all the time. "And we're on separate missions right now."

"Let me guess," Zinnia said, her smile turning hard and almost evil. "Looking for me, I presume? Where is she?"

"None of your business. I'm the one who found you."

"So you _were_ looking for me."

"I was looking for Maxie. You're just a detour."

Zinnia's eyes focused on his wrist, where his own Key Stone proudly stood. "And you're sure you won't give me yours?"

"Die in a fire."

"I was just asking," Zinnia said, as if she was offended by his rejection. "I'm doing this to save the world, you know. I thought you'd be grateful you didn't have to do it again."

Brendan didn't react, but Zinnia and Aster left without another word, keeping Maxie's glasses close. At least she wasn't wearing them anymore.

* * *

When Brendan went into Maxie's room, the Team Magma boss was sitting in his office chair, his hand over his eyes, as Tabitha was digging through the drawers.

"I don't get why you can't do it yourself, boss," Tabitha said, as he pulled out a very thick stack of papers. "You'd know your way around your desk more than I would."

"And risk a grunt seeing me in this state?" Maxie challenged. "Use your head, Tabitha, I know there's a brain in there somewhere." Though the words were insulting, Brendan realized quickly that this was actual friendship, and cleared his throat to get their attention.

Tabitha instantly straightened up, but Brendan noticed that Maxie didn't even uncover his eyes. "Brendan?" Tabitha asked uncertainly. "That's you, right?"

Brendan chose to pretend he hadn't heard. "Are you guys missing anything?" he asked pointedly. "A Courtney, maybe?"

"Courtney?" Maxie repeated, almost shocked enough to look Brendan in the eyes. Almost. "We haven't talked to her in years!"

"Not really true," Tabitha corrected. "She does get in contact two or three times a year, just to let us know she hasn't died."

"It's never been anything important," Maxie reminded him. "What's she doing now?"

"Trying to steal Key Stones and rockets to make _you_ proud of her." Brendan wasn't going to let them get the better of him. "Are you sure you didn't send her to do anything?"

"The last time we heard from Courtney was a few months ago," Tabitha promised. Brendan was much more likely to believe him, and they all knew it. "I would have remembered if Maxie and I were giving her orders to steal Key Stones and..."

"Did you say _rockets?_ " Maxie asked, finally lowering his hand. "She's stealing _rockets?_ "

"All for you, dude," Brendan promised. "But I think you might have been robbed by someone who isn't Courtney."

Maxie's frown deepened. "I fail to see how that concerns you," he answered, which of course furthered Brendan's irritation. "Unless she got to your Key Stone, as well."

"Not mine, but she asked me for it. That's close enough." He looked up hopefully. "So does this mean that I can drag you out of retirement to help me and May get our revenge? Do you have any evil genius gadgets we can use for good or chaotic neutral purposes?"

Maxie's expression didn't change, but he was slightly easier to take seriously without the giant nerd glasses on. "There is something," he confessed. "We were holding on to it from two years ago, a kind of...leverage, in case of a situation similar to this one. We keep it in a supply closet, behind a false wall - Tabitha, Courtney and I were the only ones allowed near it. If you help me find my spare glasses, I will give you my spare Cameruptite...and a space suit."

Brendan immediately dropped what he was doing to help out. He had no need for a Cameruptite, but a space suit sounded _awesome._

Even so, he had to stop and reconsider for a moment when he heard Maxie say to Tabitha, "She's stealing rockets to impress me...is it a bad thing if it's actually working?"

* * *

Shelly had never felt so useless.

Archie was pretending it hadn't happened, of course. He was focused on something else, writing a plan down with one hand and pinning her hands to his desk with the other. So maybe fluffing his beard to get his attention hadn't been the best move, but he had barely responded to the sound of his own name.

Which would have been fine, under unimportant circumstances. But given what had just happened, and what was coming their way, she needed him fully alert.

So it was time to break out the distractions, and the more outrageous the claims, the more likely they would work.

"Archie, tell me. What would get your attention sooner - hearing that we're all going to die, or that I'm pregnant?"

The pen stopped scratching, briefly, but picked up again at a slightly slower pace. Good. He'd heard her voice, if not her words. "What if I told you it was twins? Too soon to know what they are with normal means, but a psychic promised one boy, one girl." She wasn't sure Archie was writing anymore, but he was clearly only half-attentive. Listening, but not processing. She rolled her eyes as another lie came to her, this one sure to get his full attention. "Maxie's the father," she added, and just as expected, he did put down the plan.

"The father of what?" He didn't sound convinced.

"Your children," Shelly answered immediately, and the look of pure confusion on Archie's face was worth it.

"Something tells me that's biologically impossible," he said after a moment.

"Not if I'm the mother."

"But that would make the kids my _step_ -children, wouldn't it?" He wasn't serious. He knew better than to take her at her word in this situation. "So what's really so important that you wouldn't let me focus?"

"How do you know that it wasn't -"

"Because if you were telling the truth, you would have picked a better time to tell me about this, and Maxie would not be the father."

He was right about both. Instead of answering, Shelly pulled one hand free and reached for his collar, which once held back the chain for his Key Stone. "You're becoming a workaholic again. Is it because you want your Key Stone back?"

"I do. _We_ do," he corrected himself, adding Sharpedo into it. "But she's gone and I don't know where to find her. So I've decided to make a plan to find Matt, instead."

"On a napkin this time?" Shelly asked critically.

"No!" Archie denied, a little too quickly to be believable.

That's when he heard a small, feminine laugh that was definitely not Shelly. May was standing in the doorway, her Masquerain fluttering beside her, carrying a map of his base.

"Sorry," the girl said at once, taking the map from Masquerain and calling the bug back to the ball. "Was I interrupting anything?"

"No," Archie said, not sure what she was here for. "Are we in trouble, May?"

"That depends on how much control you have over Matt." May was no longer amused, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Start talking. How often do you hear from him?"

Shelly was confused. "A short phone call every so often," she answered immediately.

"If you've seen him..." Archie started hopefully, but May held up a hand to silence him.

"He tried to steal a rocket and make it Mega Evolve," she told them, and for a moment, the three stood there in awkward silence.

"How?" was the only word that Shelly's mouth could form.

"It didn't make sense to me, either," May promised. "All we know is that the rocket held Mega Stone energy or something, and Matt had a Key Stone."

"Matt has a Key Stone?" Archie interrupted.

May stopped. "I'll assume he didn't borrow yours, then. Anyway, we kind of needed the rocket to save the planet, but that idea's gone to poo, and I was just wondering if you met up with a weird girl with dark hair, a pet Whismur, and a cape. Probably after Key Stones, she took my friend Wally's, and Matt's."

"And mine," Archie finished. "We've met her, kid. Stole the Key Stone right off my neck and was gone before I could process it. But what does a thief like her have to do with saving the planet?"

"She has her own idea as to how it can be done. I don't know how more than one Key Stone factors into it. I don't know anything about it, other than she wants to bring Rayquaza back."

"She wants to do what?"

"Long story," May answered, "and not one I understand enough to tell."

Archie had a moment of thought. "Well, we're with you, whatever it is. Shelly, take her to the...the thing."

Shelly pulled her other hand from under Archie's with ease, and started to lead May away in silence. Then Archie seemed to remember something.

"Hey, kid!"

May turned just in time to see him toss a small, round object in her direction. She held out her hands to catch it, and it rolled off her fingers and dropped to the floor. She immediately got down to pick it up.

It was his Sharpedonite.

She looked at Archie in confusion, but he didn't seem worried. "Good luck."

"I'll need it," she promised, and put the stone in her bag before following Shelly to 'the thing.'

Archie grew serious, watching them leave and waiting for the door to close. "I know you will."


	6. Return to Sky Pillar

**Zinnia's master plan has a few gaping holes. Holes that happen to be named Brendan and May.**

What Archie called 'the thing' turned out to be some kind of space suit, and May couldn't contain her excitement. Shelly actually had to put her hands on May's shoulders to stop her excited bouncing, and only let go when she was sure it was over.

"This should let you follow Rayquaza anywhere," Shelly explained. "It might not be your exact size, but it should be adaptable enough to make up for it. We made it for exploring the bottom of the ocean."

"How?" May asked, still not able to take her eyes off the suit.

Shelly didn't seem to want to explain, but she knew that hiding the story was useless. "I used to work for Devon, years ago. I might have...borrowed a few notes and blueprints when Matt and Archie decided to put their plans into action."

"You had a job at Devon, and you didn't understand how expanding the sea was a bad idea?"

"Historically, Devon is known for having bad ideas. At least Archie was something _different._ "

"Why? Why did you join up with Archie and try to make his stupid plans work?"

"Because I thought they could." Shelly knew better than to think that May was done, and continued before she could say another word. "Not the awakening-Kyogre part. That was dumb, I'll admit it. But wanting to stop humanity from hurting Pokémon habitats to further their advancement? I agreed that we needed to do something."

"And you didn't stop to reconsider," May finished.

"Archie's not easily turned from his decisions," Shelly agreed. "It's one of the reasons he needed me around."

"Not the only reason, from what I saw in there." May looked pleased with herself for seeing this coming, and even more pleased that Shelly seemed to be annoyed by her digging. "So, was Matt right? Did all of that unresolved romantic interest spill over, or what?"

"I'm not discussing my personal life with a child."

That sounded like a yes.

"I'm fourteen," May told her, but dropped the romance topic, going for the suit instead. "Not a child."

"You still look twelve to me, kid."

May stuck out her tongue, proving Shelly's point, but that was the moment that Brendan called on her Pokenav, and she stopped talking to Shelly at once. "What's up, Sneakers?"

"We have a problem," Brendan answered immediately. "Zinnia got her hands on Maxie's Key Stone."

"And Archie's," May added, and could feel her friend's annoyance despite the miles between them. "But don't worry, he and Shelly gave me something that should help us out."

"A Sharpedonite and a space suit?"

May's face fell. "How could you tell?"

"Tabitha used to work for Devon, in the fossil department. He knew Shelly used to be involved in some kind of technology field that I really didn't pay attention to. He copied plans for an ultimate hazard suit when he quit to live a life of crime, I assumed she did the same thing."

"You assumed correctly." She tried not to think about what would happen if she took some of her father's research. "Did Tabitha give you one, too?"

"He gave me the suit," Brendan told her, "and the twins gave me a new mission. Which brings me to my main point: I need a ride back to Mossdeep City, and a Metagross can get uncomfortable."

* * *

Latias landed in front of the Space Center, where they nearly bumped into Tate and Liza as the Gym Leaders returned to their job. Apparently, their plans were going ignored in favor of hunting Zinnia down, and they had decided to quit while they were ahead.

They just hadn't bothered to get in contact with their 'team leaders,' and were not surprised when Brendan took a detour to ask just what they were doing.

"You've got this," Liza told them sincerely, once she and Tate had finished the explanation. "You woke up Rayquaza once. If that crazy lady can't do it, I'm sure you can."

Brendan heard what she didn't say. "So you're going with her plan now? It's stupid!"

"It's also the only choice we have," Tate reminded him. "She smashed the technology-thing, remember?"

"So you're giving up?"

"It's too late to put any other plan into action."

Brendan had to admit defeat on that one. They didn't know the expected collision date, but it was almost certainly close enough that it was a genuine threat _now_ rather than later.

"Steven said that he was heading to Sootopolis City, in case you were wondering," Tate said suddenly. "Something about convincing Juan to lift your ban there."

"More travel?" Brendan complained. "We're gonna be airsick at the end of this adventure."

"I'm already halfway to forgetting how to walk," May whined.

 **"And I'm sick of carrying these people!"** Latias added, trying and failing to look annoyed when her face was permanently arranged in happiness - the most she could manage was a tiny frown and a partial closing of her eyes. But at least her voice managed to carry some of the message across.

And Sootopolis wasn't too far away. They could handle a little bit of discomfort for the sake of the world.

When Metagross came out of its ball, to be used as transportation for the very first time, it made sure to be extra careful in handling the humans, and used a little bit of psychic power to keep them still even after it had ascended into the air and was on its way to Sootopolis.

"I wonder what would happen if I spit into the ocean at this height," Brendan commented, prompting a minor panic from Metagross and an annoyed glance from May.

"Archie would never forgive you," she answered, not even attempting patience. "And you're facing _into_ the wind, so I wouldn't do it unless you wanted to either get spit all over your face, which would be hilarious, or you wanted to get it in my hair, which would mean _I_ would never forgive you. Choose wisely."

Brendan took a moment to consider. "Better not," he decided. "The fish don't know where I've been."

May smiled. "Good boy."

* * *

Sootopolis City was exactly how they'd remembered it. Maybe a little less damp, but certainly still flooded.

There they found Wallace, who was not guarding the Sky Pillar like he was supposed to. Instead, he was talking to somebody that they had never seen, and kept looking at a tree.

"All the way from Kalos, you say?" he asked, as if they'd just missed a fascinating story. "That's where the war was, wasn't it? Three thousand years ago?"

"Nice to see you're doing your part to help save the world."

Wallace spun around, the sound of Brendan's voice momentarily surprising him. "I have Juan's strongest Gym trainer taking my place," he explained before he could be asked. "For some reason, the Gym Leader didn't feel like putting up with the two of you, and I was bored just waiting there for Zinnia. And when Steven mentioned that you would most likely have forgotten where the Sky Pillar was, I decided to wait for you and give you directions myself."

"So we're not going to the Cave of Origin?" Brendan asked.

Wallace wasn't amused. "I had to let you into the Hall of Fame the last time I broke that ancient tradition. I'm not going to go in there again and risk ending the world." He turned back to the old man. "I'm sorry, but this interesting history lesson needs to be interrupted. I have to get these kids back to the Sky Pillar before a Draconid gets herself hurt while trying to save the world."

"So Steven told you, huh?" May asked, prompting a sound of annoyance.

"That's all the explanation he gave."

"That's basically all we know," May reassured him, and Wallace called on a Pelipper to Fly him to the Sky Pillar.

It was a short ride, even on Metagross. All they missed was the exchange of duties between the Champion and the Gym trainer, and Wallace had already opened the pillar for them.

"She says she didn't see anybody there," Wallace explained, "and swears she wasn't knocked out. Zinnia hasn't been here yet."

"And how do you know she wasn't here when you left?" May asked.

"Do you see how small this island is?" Wallace gestured around them. "There's enough room for six people at most. The rest of it is mountain and pillar. The fastest way is through the hole, and while the Draconid could have climbed over the mountain, it would take her days to reach the roof of Sky Pillar that way. We're safe."

"And how long were you gone?"

"Seven minutes." Wallace looked done with the conversation, and May nudged Brendan to keep him quiet. But Wallace didn't let them in yet. "Brendan can go ahead if he wants to, or stay behind with us. But May...are you sure you can have a part in saving the world this time?"

"Excuse me?" May asked, stunned at the question. "I helped with the crisis two years ago!"

"But this is much bigger than having two legendary Pokémon fight. Rayquaza, as far as I know, may need human assistance, and if it chooses you we may have a problem."

"So I'll prove it," May decided. "I'll fight you."

She nodded at Brendan. Brendan understood at once, and ducked into the opening to the Sky Pillar.

May waited until he had disappeared completely, and sent her first Pokémon against Wallace's Whiscash. "Jerry, take the stage!"

* * *

Brendan didn't have to wait very long before May returned, out of breath from running even though they hadn't climbed the ladder yet. "Holy _cheese_ I'm out of shape," she managed, taking a seat on a rock and resting her head on her knees. "Taking Latias to all my Contests was a bad idea..."

"Isn't abusing the privilege why you refuse to let me catch a legendary?" Brendan snorted. "Hypocrite."

"I'm worried you'll abuse its _phenomenal cosmic power_ ," May hissed back. "Moron."

"Fair enough." He'd admit that she was right to worry, in that case at least. "So does beating Wallace make you a Champion now?"

"I'm not sure," she said, slowly lifting her head. "It wasn't an official battle, so I don't think so. His Gyarados stayed normal, even though Dusky went Mega..."

"You don't think Zinnia got Wallace's Key Stone, do you?"

"I've probably got enough."

Zinnia's voice was not completely unexpected, but from how sure both Wallace and the temporary guard had been that no one had gotten past them, the heroes had expected to be waiting for her, not the other way around.

"How did you get here before we did?" Brendan asked.

Zinnia opened her mouth, then closed it. "I don't know. I went over the mountain. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense." But she didn't want to think about it too hard. "I'm sure you know what I'm doing by now, and why."

"Summoning Rayquaza because it can Mega Evolve and...something." May's eyebrows scrunched. "That never got a proper explanation, and I'm a little lost on the rest."

Zinnia checked her watch, then looked up. "We've got time," she decided. "Follow me, and I'll clear up everything."

"One can only hope," Brendan said to himself, and as a unit, all three humans turned to one of the cave paintings decorating the ruins of a building that was definitely not a cave.

Maybe they'd have an explanation for that, too.


	7. The Draconid's Tale

**WARNING: At the time of this posting, we haven't played Sun and Moon. May's "moon bat" comment will be referencing a fantasy novel she read once, which may or may not have been based on Alola mythology. We wouldn't know.**

"Thousands of years ago," Zinnia began, taking on the voice of a librarian reading a fairy tale to preschoolers, "the world was overflowing with natural energy."

"And that's different from the energies of modern psychics and Pokémon?" May cut in, sharper than she'd intended.

"Hush." Zinnia, it seemed, did not have the same level of interruption preparation as, say, the President of Devon, but she went right back in anyway. "Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre fought over these energies..."

"Mega Evolutions," Brendan corrected under his breath.

"...in endless, furious clashes," Zinnia finished, raising her voice to make her point. "The people couldn't stop them, all they could do was watch as they brought the world to disaster time and time again. One such disaster was a pouring of meteoroids, pounding the planet. The worst of those meteors hit Hoenn, where an ancient tribe of people befriending Dragon-types lived."

"So you're saying that you can trace your lineage to the cave people?" Brendan asked, more than a little distracted from the main story.

"That isn't the point I'm trying to make here," Zinnia told him, but Brendan wasn't paying attention.

"That explains everything! It must be pretty nice, knowing that -"

"We're on a time limit, here!" Zinnia snapped. She pointed to the ladder. "I'm going up to the next floor, where I will wait for you for exactly five minutes. You can come, or you can stay. I don't really care."

And, with no further hesitation, she scurried up the ladder like a Mankey after a banana.

"Looks like we touched a nerve there," Brendan said, and was greeted with May's disappointed look.

"You're a jerk," she told him bluntly.

"So be it," Brendan said, and followed Zinnia up the ladder.

* * *

She wasn't surprised when they followed her up, and greeted them with one of her bright, falsely-innocent smiles. "So you're still here," she commented, the smile starting to get creepy now. "I'll assume that means you're interested in Draconid lore."

"We're actually here to make sure we have time to gloat if your plan to save the world ends up dooming it," Brendan clarified, "but, yeah, sure. Let's go with the mythology stuff."

"It is fact, _not_ mythology," Zinnia insisted. "And my plan will _not_ doom the world."

"Whatever you say."

If Zinnia heard the bitter sarcasm in his voice, and she would have to be deaf to miss it, she pretended she hadn't. "Chapter two," she started, glancing in May's direction and immediately looking away when she saw the look she was getting in return. "The meteors shone in a rainbow hue, as if they held life inside -"

"Magic meteors," Brendan mouthed to his friend, only to get elbowed into silence again. He caught her near-smile, though.

Zinnia's fingers twitched, but nothing else betrayed her annoyance at that interruption. "As if drawn by the brilliance, a great Pokémon of shining emerald color descended from the heavens. The people called it Rayquaza, and declared it to be the god of the sky."

"So aliens sent us Mega Evolution through meteors?" May didn't seem to believe it. "But my dad's research, and the Tower of Mastery in Kalos..."

"Study how humans and Pokémon bond through Mega Evolution," Zinnia finished. "This was how it started."

"Sounds about as accurate as the phases of the moon depending on how a giant bat folds its wings," May grumbled to herself. "More than likely just regular space rocks led to the discovery of Mega Stones, which formed like the regular evolution stones."

"Are you a Draconid?" Zinnia snapped, and May quickly shut her mouth. "Now, then. Rayquaza's power overwhelmed the Primal Pokémon, and peace returned to the world."

"Or at least what the ancient Draconids thought was the whole world," May grumbled, this time as Brendan elbowed her into silence.

"A thousand years later," Zinnia continued, finally deciding that it didn't matter if they were listening or not, "the meteors fell again. A meteoroid larger than ever before struck the earth, boring into the ocean and creating what is known as Sootopolis."

"So how did humans come to live there?" Brendan asked, for once genuinely curious, even though he was mostly stalling. "I understand the Pokémon, they were in the water when the meteoroid hit, but what about the ancient Sootopolis people? Was it colonized by the citizens of Atlantis as they tried to adjust to surface life?"

"That," Zinnia sighed, "is not my department. Chapter three is up ahead!" she added, suddenly cheerful, going through another of her horrifyingly fast mood swings. Then, once more, she pulled herself up to the next floor.

* * *

May was whistling softly, only Brendan capable of hearing it. Not singing a gloat, as Archie and Maxie once did, or spontaneously remembering lyrics like her mother did often. This was strictly to calm her fear. Brendan could understand, and for once, he didn't tell her to shut up or even take points from her Hogwarts house. He tried to join her and show that they were in this mess together.

Unfortunately, no sooner had he placed the tune than Zinnia started speaking again, and the whistling stopped.

"You're still with me!" she said happily. "I'm glad I have someone to explain all this to. Aster's tired of hearing me recite it all."

"Where is Aster, anyway?" May asked, and Zinnia just smiled.

"She's at the top," she explained, waving a hand dismissively. "She wanted to prove herself. Just as I'd expect from my daughter."

The word choice did not go unnoticed. "What?" was all Brendan could say.

Zinnia refused to elaborate, instead jumping right back into the story. "The meteoroid that created Sootopolis was the first of many disasters. The ground cracked, releasing the natural energy beneath Hoenn. With all of that energy waiting, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre woke once again."

"And how are these Primal Reversions different from Mega Evolution?" Brendan asked. "I mean, if they're achieved by the Red and Blue Orbs, which I assume they are because Archie and Maxie wouldn't have known about them otherwise, then wouldn't that just make the Orbs really rare Mega Stones? Groudonite and Kyogrite?"

"Is that all you can think about?" Zinnia snapped back. "How Primal Reversion and Mega Evolution are similar?"

There was a pause.

"Yes," Brendan confirmed.

Zinnia facepalmed. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she groaned, not seeming to care that they could hear her. "Primal Reversion is accomplished by using the natural energies of the earth, Mega Evolution uses the energy of space rocks and a trainer's heart. Are we clear?"

Brendan shrugged. "As we'll ever be, I guess."

Zinnia lifted her head, but they could both feel her disappointment. "The return of the Primal Pokémon would have been the end, if not for the lore passed down from a thousand years earlier. The people made a wish - and Rayquaza returned. They fell to their knees, wishing to avoid the impending disaster, and the Pokémon heard them. It changed form in a flash of light - a _real_ Mega Evolution," Zinnia clarified, shooting a dirty look in Brendan's direction. "That's where the stories of divine legendaries come from."

"At least here in Hoenn," May concluded, pretending not to notice that Zinnia's annoyance was toward her, too. "So how did this end?"

"That's for the final chapter," Zinnia replied. "And Aster is waiting for us. Let's not keep her any longer than we need to."

She turned and left for the next floor.

"But what about Primal Reversion?" Brendan asked the air. "I want to know how it works."

"You don't have Groudon or Kyogre," May pointed out. "You couldn't use Primal Reversion anyway."

She followed Zinnia, leaving Brendan alone.

"I still want to know how it works," he said to himself, and was the last one up.

* * *

This time, Zinnia didn't even try to make conversation. She just jumped right in.

"Once again, Rayquaza confronted Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. The Mega Evolution gave it golden filaments that sprang from its body and covered the sky. The wind roared as the Pokémon's emerald aura lit the area. It sapped the power from the two warring Pokémon, who, defeated, went away - one to the depths of the ocean, the other to the heart of the land."

"That does explain why Rayquaza scared them so much when Wallace woke it up," May admitted. "You might be on to something, after all."

"Of course I am." Zinnia didn't stick her nose in the air, but Brendan expected her to. "I'm the Lorekeeper. It's my duty to be 'on to things' like this. Just like it's my duty to save the world, just like this."

The heroes kept quiet. Zinnia was grateful.

"A witness to this event, a tall traveler from a distant land, said that he believed that the Pokémon could return by the wishes in the hearts of the people, whenever a disaster approaches. So the Draconids built a tall tower and painted murals depicting the Pokémon's achievements, so we would never forget."

"And how did the people of Sootopolis come into this?" Brendan asked again. "Why do they have the authority to open the Sky Pillar even if they don't live in caves or train Dragon-types?"

"And what does the traveler's height have to do with any of this?" May asked. "Was it on his orders that your people built the tower, or did they do it on their own?"

"None of that was recorded. If you want to know the history of the ancient Sootopolitans, ask your genie friend." One corner of her mouth lifted. "Or whatever you call him. The official Champion."

Great, even she knew Wallace held the title. Was that open knowledge to everyone now?

"So what about the tower?" Brendan asked, pointing around him. "This is it, right? Did the tall guy tell you to do it?"

"Who had the idea was never mentioned," Zinnia said sadly. "All we know is that this is it."

"So why did they seal it in the first place?"

"Again, I can't tell you. I can only tell you what is depicted on the mural. The legends that the Lorekeepers study, time and again, in preparation."

"Preparation for what?"

Zinnia's answer was to move up another floor.

Brendan looked at May. "I knew we should have gotten involved with Matt and Courtney instead. The Aqua/Magma revival would have been a lot less trouble than she is."

* * *

Once more, Zinnia was waiting. Again, she didn't stop to even greet them.

"Where we last left off, peace had returned to Hoenn and the tower was built." She waited for them to confirm that they remembered, even though it was only minutes earlier. "But the Draconids had learned from the last cycle, and predicted a new meteoroid to strike in another thousand years. They prophesized that the meteoroid would be even bigger than the one that came before it."

"Bigger than the one that built Sootopolis?" Brendan asked.

"Bigger than the one with Rayquaza's Key Stone," Zinnia agreed. "Big enough to break the world forever."

There was a moment of silence. So she was on to something here, too.

Pleased with the lack of commentary, Zinnia continued. "Those with the knowledge of the past came up with another plan. They would summon Rayquaza again, this time before the meteoroid hit." She turned around, giving them another fake smile. "I spent a lot of time thinking of how to do it. I eventually came to the conclusion that, since having the Primal Reversions come out of hiding worked the first few times, that I could send information to two rival teams who I knew, through stalking their leaders on Facebook, were interested in the regular forms of Groudon and Kyogre."

"But then Archie and Maxie were idiots and couldn't figure out how to make them Primal?" Brendan asked. Zinnia noted the fact that he did not say 'Mega.' He must have been paying enough attention to know it bugged her.

Zinnia smiled mysteriously and headed to the top floor. The two chased her up, and found that Aster was, as Zinnia had told them, waiting.

"You always wanted to see the Litleonids, didn't you, Aster?" Both Zinnia and her Whismur were looking up at the stars. Strange - it had been daylight when they'd gone into the tower. "The show is about to start. It's almost time."

"Time for what?" May dared to ask, and Zinnia turned, her usual smile still in place.

"Surely you know," she said happily. "I'm going to summon Rayquaza to stop the meteor. Just like my ancestors did before me."

"And you could have saved a lot of trouble by letting professional rocket scientists handle it with a rocket," Brendan pointed out. "You didn't have to get involved at all."

"I saved an entire universe," Zinnia told him. "Their plan would have saved only us."

"If the multiverse theory is even real," Brendan reminded her, "and if they aimed it at an inhabited version of our world, which would have been a long shot. There have to be hundreds of possible alternate universes where humans and Pokémon all died out or relocated. Not to mention the actual uninhabited planets in our solar system alone, which they could have just as easily blown up instead. You need to study probability with your mythology."

"Aww!" May patted his head. "He's learning!"

"I listen to your furious rants now and then." He shrugged her off. "I never know when I'm going to need to use that knowledge to gloat or insult people."

Zinnia clicked her tongue. "You really are a Slytherin, aren't you? Devoted to your cause and those you care about, but not afraid to insult or hurt others to get what you want."

"Only if they need it."

She didn't bother to answer. She was looking up at the sky again. "Some days I can't believe that this is the same sky that I looked at when I was a little girl. These stars helped me a lot."

They couldn't see her point anymore. "They are pretty," May offered, and Zinnia didn't move.

"I used to watch the stars with Aster all the time." She said it like it was all a memory but Aster was right there. "I loved her, but that wasn't enough. I lost her, just because..."

She didn't finish the thought, or even explain who this new, or technically old, Aster was, or even if Old Aster was even human. There was the possibility that this Aster had been a different Whismur. There were many possibilities, but the heroes didn't feel like asking for clarification.

"Well," Zinnia said, turning back to them with another forced smile, "that's my tragic backstory. I'm sorry."

"For what?" May asked, looking concerned.

"For this."

And then, both she and New Aster struck.


	8. The End of the World

**Brendan was our one last hope.**

Wallace had returned to Lavaridge Town, but Lisia didn't believe he was going to take her home yet. He wasn't taking her back to his home in Sootopolis, or to her parents' house in Lilycove, instead staying with her and the Gym Leader in the break room. And he seemed to be hiding something.

Flannery noticed, too. "I taught your niece a valuable lesson on taking money from strangers," she said, attempting to judge how bad it was by his reaction to unnecessary knowledge. "Including ways that don't involve card games. Try explaining _that_ to your sister."

Wallace reacted exactly how they had expected. "So it's official. _All_ of my friends are con artists."

"I could have told you that before you dropped me off," Lisia commented.

Wallace focused on her. "Did you stay out of trouble?" he asked, and Lisia and Ali shared a look. "Oh, so you put your new knowledge to good use, is that it?"

"She's pretty fun," Lisia told him, carefully avoiding the question. "I'm sure Ali would have preferred staying with Winona, though."

"She does have more bird perches," Wallace agreed. "But she was too close to the incident and had to evacuate Fortree City. She couldn't have taken you."

"But I liked it here," Lisia continued, petting Ali's head. "We talked about movies, I recommended one of May's fanfics, we got into witchcraft and animal sacrifice, went out for nachos...girl stuff." She smiled innocently as she noticed that Wallace had heard what didn't belong in that sentence, and he seemed to know better than to believe it. "Like I said, Ali would have preferred Winona. But your Champion business is done now, right?"

She was right. He was trying to hide something. She could tell by his shifty eyes. "Not exactly," he finally decided to say. "Steven and I were forced into the sidelines as it turned out to be a much greater threat than we were led to believe. We were Plan A, the Key Stone thief had her own agenda and destroyed Plan B, so we sent your friends to save the world in our place."

"That won't turn out well," Flannery said, dimly remembering her own encounter with Brendan and May.

But Lisia had already pulled up her Pokenav communicator. "Is Wally one of them? I can't do anything without getting in more trouble with my parents, but -"

"Your parents are on their way here," Wallace promised. "I told your mother, and she said that I did the right thing, keeping you out of what I thought was the blast zone."

"So what's really the blast zone?"

Wallace stayed quiet for a moment too long. "Hoenn."

Oh. So they were all doomed. "Brendan and May can fix it," Lisia said, ignoring the little voice of doubt in her head. "I have faith in them."

The adults made awkward eye contact, but neither chose to say anything.

* * *

May was the first to regain consciousness, and turned to find Aster standing in front of her. It was sunrise, the sky streaked with dull orange and the Whismur making worried sounds as she poked Brendan.

"He's alive," Zinnia promised, and May noticed her own Key Stone was missing. Zinnia had it around her own wrist. Noticing the writer's fury, Zinnia waved it off. "Relax, you can have them all back _after_ I save the world. I just got concerned with not taking one from a Champion when I had the chance, and I figured a little extra power would never hurt."

She was wearing Brendan's, too. Apparently, knocking an honorary Champion out by surprise was fair game for taking his Key Stone.

Speaking of Brendan, one last shove from Aster and he, too, woke up, looked around, and noticed his Key Stone was on his opponent's wrist. He reached for a ball, possibly the one containing his Aggron, but Zinnia stopped that, too.

"Good morning, Champion," Zinnia said happily. "You and your friend are just so cute when you sleep, I couldn't bear to wake you up myself."

"We've been over this," Brendan hissed. "I am not 'cute.' I am _feared._ "

Zinnia's smile didn't break, and it was almost as if she had never talked about the Other Aster at all. "I really am sorry about the whole knocking-you-out thing. I just got a little paranoid, that's all. You're free to go now, if you want."

"You promised we'd get everyone's Key Stones back," May reminded her. "I'm not going anywhere."

Zinnia looked down at Aster. "Probably for the best," she said softly. "Take her, if something happens to me."

Aster looked horrified. **"What?"** she squeaked. **"Do you want something to happen?"**

Hearing the cry, Zinnia knelt down and hugged her Whismur, kissing her on the top of the head. "Just a precaution," she promised. "Be good for them, ok?"

She let go and stood up, over Aster's protests, and stood in the center of the Sky Pillar's roof. Rayquaza was gone - it had been waiting for May and Wallace last time. She arranged all of the stolen Key Stones into a circle, as if she were summoning a demon.

Then, in a move that convinced them both that fictional summonings were inspired by real-life Draconid practices, she stepped inside the circle and began to chant a clearly memorized speech.

"With jewel bright and borrowed might from spirits of the departed...through sacred rite, in thy great sight, my life as well I offer."

"Should you write this down?" Brendan whispered to his friend. "I know you want to write a fantasy story with witchcraft."

May shook her head. "I like writing my own spells. And besides, this is more of a prayer."

"What's the difference?"

"Spells tend to go with the idea that the caster can do it on their own, while prayers directly call a deity for help."

He didn't even call her a nerd. Brendan hadn't known that people still worshiped legendary Pokémon as gods after it had been proven that they could be caught.

The Key Stones all lit up, in a flash that made all of them see purple spots. Then the whole island shook, drowning out Zinnia's continued chant. They couldn't even hear each other.

And, finally, it settled, just as a large green serpent descended from the sky.

* * *

Rayquaza didn't seem to recognize May from their previous encounter, but it seemed to know the Lorekeeper for what she was. It roared, startling Aster, but the humans stayed perfectly still.

"I did it," Zinnia whispered, just as shocked as her captives felt. "I actually did it! Did you see that, Aster?" she asked, looking back at the Whismur happily. "I did it!"

"So maybe you weren't completely out of your nut, after all," Brendan decided, "but again, how would you even know that the other plan was a failure?"

"Shut up! I'm right!" She turned to Rayquaza, suddenly hit with the realization that she might not be, after all. "Aren't I? You can save the world, right?"

Rayquaza slowly shook its head. **"It's been too long. I'm not sure I can Mega Evolve."**

Zinnia bowed her head in respect to the legendary Pokémon that had saved the world twice before. "Now, please, hear my wish. Take hold of your true power and save the world!"

 **"You're kind of bossy,"** Rayquaza commented. It looked down at the circle, then at Zinnia's leg. Brendan and May looked down, too. There sat her own Key Stone, hidden from those who didn't think to look...and completely unresponsive.

Zinnia noticed that after a few seconds. "How?" she asked, though whether she was questioning herself or Rayquaza was a mystery to the heroes. "I collected Key Stones that could withstand your power. I even tracked down that Courtney character for hers, and borrowed them from those two," she gestured to Brendan and May, "just so that we could have backups in case one of the others broke. I summoned you here...you came..." She was starting to fight tears at this point. "Why?"

"This is what happens when you silence other opinions," May said, crossing her arms. "When your own plans collapse, you have no backup."

Rayquaza looked over, recognizing her voice from two years earlier, and almost looked like it was asking for help. That gave Brendan an idea.

"Maybe it's not the Key Stones that are the problem." He held out his hand. "Maybe it's the meteorite. Maybe it's actually a Rayquazanite, or whatever. Zinnia's stories did have a Mega Evolution inducing meteoroid landing before Rayquaza went out and saved the world."

"What?" May was caught off guard, but Brendan was already searching. Finally, he managed to find the hunk of space rock about the size of his fist, in a protective case. "That thing?"

Brendan ignored her reasonable objections, and held it out for the Pokémon to examine. "Would this work?" he asked uncertainly. "My Aggron and my friend's Absol need their own stones to evolve, maybe you do, too." He glared at Zinnia. "What, you're not going to hurt me because I have a different idea?"

"Everyone does need an emergency backup plan," Zinnia told him.

Feeling that was as good as he was going to get, Brendan held the meteorite closer to Rayquaza's head, noticing its bright glow was even stronger up here. Rayquaza sniffed it, looked back at Brendan, and swallowed it whole.

Almost immediately, Rayquaza lit up like a firework, as the ancient magic that neither of the heroes had believed in took hold.

Zinnia's voice was soft, taken by surprise."It worked. Swallowing the meteorite did give it the power it needed to Mega Evolve."

"That explains why it didn't work last time," May said to herself, too stunned to process immediately. "We didn't have a meteorite with us then."

Rayquaza roared, and there was another light from Brendan, this one from his belt. A tall Pokémon came out of his ball, and they were all staring as the Blaziken took his proper position.

"You're going to talk to it for me?" Brendan asked, and Adam slowly shook his head. He punched one hand into the other. "Oh. It wants to _fight us._ And you're the volunteer."

 **"Do you accept?"** Rayquaza asked, looking past Adam to focus on Brendan. **"Your friend has captured a legendary of her own. You have my permission to try to defeat me."**

Brendan thought it over, then got that look in his eyes that made May want to run for cover. "Let's do this," he decided. "Adam, start it off with Double Kick!"

Rayquaza took the hits, but immediately flew up into the sky. It knew _Fly,_ and that was not good.

They should have started with Banette.

* * *

Banette fell, just as Adam and Grumpig had before her, and Rayquaza was still standing. They weren't out of practice - battling Norman all the time kept both teams battle-ready, after all. Rayquza was just too powerful. Brendan couldn't even begin to imagine how strong its Mega form must be.

The thought nearly made him shiver in excitement. "Can you get up, Banette?" he called, and she weakly waved her hand as if waving a white flag. He called her back, and chose his next Pokémon carefully. Breloom would stand no chance against Fly, but he still had two Steel-type Pokémon left.

He decided to start with the least experienced one. "Metagross, do the thing!"

Metagross burst from its ball and stared Rayquaza down, but all of them knew what was going to happen. Brendan was just going to use it as a wall to keep the battle going, until he had either succeeded in catching Rayquaza or ran out of Pokeballs trying.

Brendan, knowing that they were on to him, reached into his bag. This was his seventeenth Ultra Ball, but like any good trainer, he always kept them stocked. It never hurt to have backup Pokémon to keep the lower-level Gym teams active.

And this time, when the Pokémon went into the ball, it did not come back out.

Brendan heard Zinnia's gasp, and Aster's cheer, and May's high-pitched scream as she realized that the world was doomed, but he didn't pay attention to any of it. He had a _legendary._ That was more power than even he had ever imagined.

"This isn't good," May groaned, sinking to her knees with her head in her hands. "We had more hope for the world when we thought the meteor was going to destroy it."

"It's not that bad," Zinnia tried to reassure her, but Brendan didn't object.

"She's right," he said simply, picking up the Ultra Ball that now held Rayquaza. "I probably will doom the world with this thing. I am the first to admit that I cannot be trusted with power in any form without May to hold my leash."

"It's not that bad," Zinnia repeated, "because Rayquaza will not allow its power to be used for evil, or for purely selfish reasons. Rayquaza will be the limiter of its own power."

 **"You don't know that for sure,"** Rayquaza taunted from its new carrier.

"You don't know that," May said at the same time.

Aster heard both, and looked up at Zinnia as if expecting her to do something about it. Zinnia, not having the experience of being a Pokémon, moved forward.

"I wonder," she said, looking at the place where the dragon had once stood, "if it was because of your involvement the last time that led to Rayquaza choosing you over me."

"If that's the case, why didn't it pick _me_?" May threw her arms up. "I actually met it before, I have the experience in being a legendary trainer..."

"Latias doesn't count," Brendan pointed out.

"Latias does count!" May swept her arm around their surroundings. "Brendan can't be trusted! He said so himself!"

"But what's done is done," Zinnia stated. Then she turned her full attention on Brendan. "I know a way to teach it a move. A powerful move known only as Dragon Ascent. Release it, and I will demonstrate."

Brendan did as commanded. Zinnia bowed her head, and made her own wish. The strength of the Lorekeeper overcame the power of the Pokeball, and Rayquaza mirrored her pose.

Then, before our heroes could ask, they straightened up. "Now," Zinnia said to the humans, not daring to touch Rayquaza, "to see if Rayquaza has gathered enough power for the necessary Mega Evolution, and mastered Dragon Ascent, why don't we have another battle?"

"I just caught a _legendary,_ " Brendan told her. "You really want to fight me?"

"Why not?" Zinnia smiled. "I'll even heal your other Pokémon before and after the battle. I promise."

Brendan looked for May's approval. May looked thoughtful. "It might be a good idea to test it out," she decided. "See if Rayquaza does have personal lines that it doesn't want to cross, and if it really has the power to save the world again." She shuddered. "To think I was wrong for not blindly believing ancient myths."

Zinnia seemed to have perfect faith in Rayquaza's self-imposed limitations, and quickly pulled out a Pokeball of her own as she tossed Brendan his Mega Ring. "Come on," she begged. "It'll be fun!"

"Are you serious?" Brendan gestured to the sky. "You committed crimes against people who weren't even criminals, as well as four people who _were,_ and we're operating under a time limit, and you challenge me for fun?"

"Partly," Zinnia said, as if she didn't see anything wrong with it. "The other part is that it really is necessary. I need to test you, to see if Rayquaza has chosen its trainer wisely."

"I'm still not sure if you'll like the result," May commented, but she was much calmer now. Something about Zinnia being right about the meteor was enough to reassure her that Brendan having a legendary would not be the end of the world.

"It doesn't matter. I need to complete my duties as Lorekeeper and challenge the Chosen One to battle."

Brendan had already accepted her challenge, and he voiced it by allowing her to heal his Pokémon.

This was going to be awesome.


	9. Destiny Deoxys

**Someone has to keep Brendan and Rayquaza under control.**

 **Unfortunately, we are not able to fully capture this moment in mere words due to being comedy writers, not action. Either play the game or watch a walkthrough for the whole experience.**

With Rayquaza on his side, Brendan really didn't have much to worry about. Even though Rayquaza refused to obey his command of "Destroy them!" they still managed to legally defeat Zinnia's Pokémon one by one. He even felt comfortable enough to laugh once her Salamence Mega Evolved, pointing out its boomerang shape to May, who gave a half-smile as she tried to wrap her brain around the Pokémon of myth taking orders from her wildly incompetent best friend.

Then Mega Salamence managed to beat his new legendary. Maybe he should have Mega Evolved it first.

But that meant he still had five more Pokémon, even if Breloom had to be left out. Brendan grabbed the first ball he touched, and was rewarded with Grumpig making another appearance. Brendan took a few seconds to remember what moves Grumpig knew...

"Salamence, use Crunch!"

...and immediately assumed the worst.

But Grumpig refused to go down without a fight. He heard Brendan's order for a Psychic attack, and sent Mega Salamence back. Brendan didn't wait, calling for a Shadow Ball, and they were rewarded by the Pokémon crashing to Zinnia's feet, shifting back into normal Salamence form as it did.

Zinnia called Salamence back, and for once, didn't seem to be quite as crazy. "I couldn't even get one legendary," she said to herself. "You two must be the ones destined to do it. Brendan, you can stop the meteor...and May, you will hold the title of Lorekeeper."

"Um, no." May took a step back, and would have fallen off the roof if Grumpig hadn't caught her. "I refuse to put science and logic aside because cave paintings told me to take a different path."

"I didn't mean it like that," Zinnia promised. "I just want you to make the story open to the public. Write a novel about what you and Brendan and I went through. Take a few creative liberties, but keep it well-known that it was based on a true story. Warn the people that in another thousand years, they should bring Rayquaza back."

"Or come up with a different plan." May wasn't going to accept the suggestion. Brendan knew her enough to know that she would refuse anything from Zinnia, just because of her past experiences with who was suggesting it. "I just want all the stolen Key Stones back."

"All of them?"

May gave her that look that she'd practiced on Brendan a thousand times. "Even Matt and Courtney deserve to know what happened to theirs."

Zinnia looked ready to protest, but Aster distracted her with a small Whismur-noise. "Fine," Zinnia sighed, tossing May the other Key Stone bracelet. "You go with him and take care of the space problem first, and if we live, I'll return all of the Key Stones I stole. Ok?"

May made an 'I'm watching you' gesture, but dug out the compressed blue space suit that Archie and Shelly had given her, as Brendan finished putting on the red one.

"Ready?" he asked once she had finished strapping herself in.

"What choice do we have?"

The two fastened their helmets, and climbed onto Rayquaza. May wrapped her arms around Brendan's chest, he wrapped his around Rayquaza's neck, and they shot off into the sky.

* * *

Space was...

Big. Empty. Beautiful. Scary. Quiet.

Each of the words passed through May's head, and though each of them was true, she knew that it only covered half of it. Even as she felt the shift of Rayquaza's body under them, as Mega Rayquaza provided artificial gravity to keep them together, she kept thinking of different adjectives, trying to put her feelings into words since she couldn't speak to Brendan.

Brendan was more focused on the mission, but not by much. If he wasn't able to abuse the power of Mega Rayquaza and declare himself the King of Hoenn, then he would have to settle for the hero worship that followed saving the world twice over. That was something he could live with.

He felt May's grip tighten as she saw over his shoulder, and started paying less attention to the aftermath of the mission and more to the current situation.

Mega Rayquaza was perfectly willing to take its new trainer and his friend into space. It seemed to have forgotten that humans were incredibly fragile, and was currently shooting forward into the rapidly approaching meteor.

Brendan didn't even have time to ask what it thought it was doing. Rayquaza, instead of letting loose with a Dragon Pulse or Hyper Beam or something, smashed right into the rock, splitting it into pieces.

It turned, giving the kids a good look at their homes from space, and then their attention was taken by one particular piece of rock.

This rock had broken off into a perfect triangle. And it seemed more stationary than the other chunks of meteor now falling in pieces small enough to burn up on the way down.

Then it started to move, and suddenly, they weren't so sure it was a rock anymore. When it started sprouting long, creepy tentacles, they were positive.

"No way," the kids said together, in shock.

The triangle let its tentacles twist together, and in a flash, it had morphed into something vaguely human-like. It was an extraterrestrial Pokémon, after all.

The space Pokémon looked startled but furious, as if it had been using the meteor as a spaceship to travel on a peace mission and humans destroying it with a dragon was the last thing it had expected.

Then, as if it knew the customs of the Pokémon in Brendan's world, it jumped forward, challenging Rayquaza to a battle.

* * *

"This is so cool!"

May's words were blocked by her helmet, but Brendan gave her a thumbs-up as if he had known what she'd said and agreed. The sad part about the suits being created by rival teams was that they couldn't communicate with each other. If Archie and Shelly had heard her statement through an accidental transmission, they didn't say anything.

The space Pokémon seemed to be waiting, but Mega Rayquaza was reluctant. **"These kids might go flying off if I battle. I don't want them to be lost forever."**

 **"Silence. You have destroyed my transportation. You must be punished."**

It could speak like an earth-born Pokémon, at least. **"But they don't have another Pokémon that can breathe out here,"** Rayquaza tried reasoning. **"I can't let them go."**

 **"Place them on your moon. We will fight there."**

Deciding it couldn't hurt, Rayquaza did as instructed. Brendan and May stood there in silence, realizing that they were the first astronauts that never used a rocket, but then they got distracted by the battle.

As Brendan could not breathe in space, he could not command Rayquaza. Rayquaza made up for it by being the most awesome thing either of them had ever seen, tied only with the alien it was fighting. From Dragon Pulse to Dragon Ascent, even sometimes tail smacking instead of using an actual move, each move Rayquaza made hurt the Pokémon, but each time, the alien used a move that they recognized as Recover or hit back with a Hyper Beam.

Brendan had no words in his head to describe this. He needed to borrow a thesaurus.

May had a different plan. If this alien Pokémon had planned to make an appearance in Hoenn and had just picked the wrong vehicle, then what was stopping someone from catching it?

And, unlike her friend, she had the proper equipment for it. If only she could get it out...

It took some work, and unfortunately distracted her from the fight. But, just as Brendan was about to gesture to Rayquaza to make the finishing move, May put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. In her other hand, she had the Master Ball she had taken from Team Aqua's base in a tight grip.

Brendan knew what she was asking, and once more gave her the thumbs-up, granting her permission.

It took a while. Gravity may have existed on the moon, but it was much, much lower than what they had back home. As a result, even though May threw the Master Ball as hard as she could, the alien Pokémon could see it coming. It moved to swat it away, not as if it was against being captured but as if it felt like it was cheating, but Rayquaza, deciding that it was taking too long to reach its target, grabbed onto it and decided to throw it himself. In the first known case of a Pokémon catching another Pokémon, the alien disappeared inside as Rayquaza let the ball drop.

Brendan, May and Rayquaza all held their breath. They knew that the odds of a Master Ball failure were so low it was almost never encountered, but they had heard stories.

It wasn't necessary to worry. The ball stopped shaking, and was picked up by Rayquaza, still in Mega form even though the battle was over.

Rayquaza handed it to May without a word, and lowered itself to let them climb back on. And as they shot back to earth in another flash of green light, leaving a firework-like trail, Brendan could only form one thought.

 _Fifty points to Ravenclaw, for getting an ALIEN. And another thirty points to Slytherin for having a Pokémon catch it._

* * *

When they returned, Zinnia had left. Aster remained, and she was holding a note that she handed to Brendan as soon as he'd taken off his helmet.

Zinnia had really bad handwriting, as it turned out. It was worse than even May's, who wrote things down as quickly as she thought of them but at least had pretty F's and B's. Zinnia's uppercase letters most closely resembled a doctor's signature, but at least the rest was understandable enough that Brendan could still read.

"I finally managed to avert the disaster. I thank you for that. I think I'm going to spend more time among real people, moving forward instead of living in the past. I'll forge a new beginning for myself and Aster, and I'll trust you to handle the world-saving from now on. Until we meet again, Zinnia."

Brendan looked up from the letter to find Aster gone, and May examining the circle of Key Stones that remained untouched. "Looks like she forgot about these," she commented, scooping them all up and placing them in her bag. "We should return them to their proper owners."

"Or we should return Wally's and keep the rest for ransom," Brendan offered. When May gave him a disbelieving look, he held out his hands. "We saved the world, May. _Again_. I'm starting to think we might deserve a little compensation, and I have no problem with that kind of behavior against failed criminals."

"They're reformed, Brendan. They gave us the suits." She looked him right in the eyes as she said it, leaving no room for loopholes. "And Team Breakneck is above that, anyway. We do this for power and fame, not for money."

He knew better than to fight it when she had that look. "The Litleonids are tomorrow," he said, deciding a subject change was in order. "Why don't we go and tell Professor Cozmo that he has nothing to worry about, so they can open the Space Center to the public again?"

"You just want to show off our new Pokémon, don't you?"

"Don't you?" May admitted she saw his point. Brendan released Rayquaza and climbed onto his back, as May released Latias. "I'll race you to Mossdeep."

May leaned forward slightly as Latias prepared for takeoff. "On your marks..."

* * *

"Don't worry, Steven," Professor Cozmo said, noting that the frustrated former Champion had been pacing the floor for an hour, practically hypnotizing the local Gym Leaders, who had returned only with the news that Brendan and May were going into space. "They saved the world once. I'm sure they can do it again." He paused as Steven stopped pacing long enough to meet his eyes. "And I just heard myself out loud."

"They'll be fine," Liza said, prying open a bag of microwave popcorn. "I'm not saying that you have nothing to worry about, but Brendan and May are still alive."

"You mean you looked into the future again?"

"No," Liza answered, taking a handful of popcorn and calmly passing the bag to her brother. "I looked out the window."

Steven and Cozmo spun around, to see what was clearly Latias with a girl on her back. This was accompanied by a boy sitting on a large green dragon, and both kids had a large, falsely innocent smile decorating their faces.

Steven swallowed hard. "Is that...Rayquaza?" he asked weakly.

"It sure is," Brendan agreed, patting his beast on the head. "I caught him myself."

Steven instantly felt the ground sway under him. Forget the meteor, _this_ meant the end of the world.

"And that isn't all," May added cheerfully, reaching behind her with one hand and holding on to Latias with the other. She pulled out a Master Ball, and opened it to reveal the Pokémon inside.

Steven stayed strong, but Cozmo almost did faint. "You...caught...a _Deoxys_?"

"That's a Deoxys?" May looked again at the Pokémon, then back at the professor. "You've heard of it?"

"One visited before," Cozmo agreed, still breathless. "Many years ago. It befriended an elderly trainer, stayed for ten years, and went home at the end of the trainer's life. Even before, there were reports...but this Pokémon is rare on our planet, May. Only one visits at a time. We don't even know where they come from."

"Well, we found this one in the meteor that was going to destroy our planet." Deoxys looked surprised, then ashamed, as if it had never meant to do that. "We couldn't let it find out it had destroyed the world it wanted to visit. That wouldn't be right."

"No," the professor muttered, "it would not. If you would let me study it sometime, May..."

"I knew you'd ask that. So I made a plan." She nodded toward the twins. "You two will care for it and make sure it is not mistreated. I will return at random to visit, and will eventually take it back so it can study us in exchange for us studying it. And try to keep it from abducting people, ok?" She grinned at Deoxys, who refused to respond. "In exchange for letting you study it, Professor Cozmo, I have one request for you."

"And that is?"

She tossed Tate the Master Ball. "Next time the planet is in danger, save everyone the trouble and call us _first_."


	10. The End of an Adventure

**I'd like to think we're ahead enough in our Kalos story now. Just in time for Brendan and May to retire from saving the world, or at least have a chance to be normal kids again.**

 _The next day..._

Wally had his Key Stone around his neck, and swore to himself that he'd never leave it behind again. Gallade was just as grateful, and made a promise to thank Rayquaza face-to-face.

The box had been dropped off by a cheerful Latias, containing nothing more than the Key Stone and a note containing a challenge from Brendan that Wally had been more than happy to accept. She'd been carrying more boxes of similar size, but she had stopped to say hello to all of the Pokémon and to his parents before taking off again.

Wally had decided to follow her example. There was a new tournament opening, and he was going to come in first this time.

"Are you sure you're ready to go?" his mom asked, and Wally looked up. "I thought you were going to try breeding."

"I've got time." Wally wasn't sure where she was going with this. It had been her idea to send him to Verdanturf two years earlier. Was she really going to do the whole 'My baby's all grown up' thing _now_? "It might be the only way I can get Brendan to stop calling me that stupid nickname."

"But -"

"Mom. You were never called 'Agent Broface' among names like 'Songbird' and 'Dancing Shadow,' and at least 'Rainbow Sprinkles' likes hers _._ Brendan won't let me off unless I can beat him in battle." There was a determination in his eyes that both made her proud and scared her. "He and May are watching the Litleonids. If I start my new journey now, I might be ready for him." He smiled brightly and waved goodbye, Gallade right behind him.

His dad laughed softly. "I never would have thought that there would be a day Wally was _too_ well," he half-joked. "But he's happy now. That should be enough for us."

"It is," she said, and she was convinced of it. "But...really, all of this over a codename from a secret club? What do these kids even do with their lives, now that Brendan and Wally are in the Hall of Fame?"

* * *

That was the tenth napkin.

Shelly hadn't meant to start counting, really. But Archie seemed so determined to get Matt back, he hadn't wanted to even use real paper, so she was sitting back and supplying her own ideas as he ruined one after another. And, when it was officially deemed a Bad Plan, she was the one who lit it on fire.

At least she'd convinced him to think about things other than work. That was a step up.

"Why don't you just ask him to come back the next time he calls?" she suggested. "I miss him too, Archie, but you don't need to overcomplicate things. We don't want a repeat of Kyogre."

Archie looked up. "Kyogre was _under-_ planning, Shelly," he said, slipping into the typical pirate accent. She rolled her eyes, but smiled, and the sight lightened his own mood. "Have you ever asked him?"

"Once," she admitted. "He said he would return. But you were his boss, Archie, you could still give him orders."

"So you admit that polite asking does nothing." He wasn't serious. Not entirely. "No, overcomplicated is what he understands. We'll figure this out."

The shadows on the floor distracted them, and Archie turned to hide his paper. No one but Shelly got to see his sappy side. That was his personal rule. But when he heard her small gasp of surprise, he crumpled the napkin up and threw it into the trash can.

He knew who it was.

"Matt?" Shelly asked, eyes wide. "And...Ben?"

The grunt beside Matt shrugged. "I go by Benjamin," he said, "but Ben's acceptable."

Archie reached for his pen, letting Shelly distract them. But she'd lost her voice, so he wrote down what he needed, pretending to ignore the new arrivals.

"I'm sorry, bro," Matt said. There it was. Matt had apologized first.

Archie turned around, still keeping a straight face. "Benjamin," he said, his voice still hard, "go out and get us coffee. Get one for yourself, too, I don't care."

Benjamin's eyes lit up. "You remembered my name?"

"Do you want me to start calling you Billybob again?" Benjamin shook his head. "Then go."

He went.

"You remembered his name?" Shelly whispered.

"Wrote it on my hand," Archie said, matching her volume. "Matt's the hard part."

Archie had forgotten how _big_ Matt was. The Aqua leader wasn't a wimp by any stretch, but he certainly felt like it now. It had once made him slightly jealous, but now it was almost funny.

"Archie," Shelly hissed. "Say something."

He wanted to, but he wasn't good with words. That was why Shelly had been in charge of the hiring. It hadn't just been her pretty face and quick brain and...everything else he'd liked about her. But she was waiting on him to make the move, so he went with the first thing that came into his head.

"It's unforgivable."

Matt looked as if he'd been slapped. Shelly looked surprised. Perhaps going with the first thing in his head was the wrong approach.

"How I acted was unforgivable," Archie continued, continuing to do so anyway. "First I drag you both to what would have been your certain death, then I never bother to explain that I'm actually happy about the loss! I'm a man, emotions confuse me! That...thing with Shelly took until our defeat for me to consider putting it into words! To think I didn't even realize I drove my own loyal crew into despair...I don't even deserve to be called a leader anymore."

Even the blunt admission to what Matt had known for years was less important to him than the last remark. "You're still worthy, Archie. I'm the one who took your ideas too far even after you learned what 'too far' was. I messed up."

"We all did," Shelly said quietly, not at all shocked by her leader's words. "Though making a _rocket_ Mega Evolve was something I'd never heard of."

Archie had calmed down, getting it all off his chest. "I plan to start from scratch. Bring Team Aqua back to its former glory, and do things right this time. Even working with Team Magma and Team Breakneck if we have to. We waited this long because we couldn't do it without you. Would you be willing to be a part of this new Team Aqua?"

Matt couldn't help it. This was more emotion than he'd felt in a long time, and he started to cry, not caring how macho he looked. "I...I'll do it, bro. I'll even do one of those dumb movies the twin Gym Leaders forced you guys into."

Shelly shook her head, noticing Archie had a few manly tears of his own. "Losers," she said softly. And then she cried out in surprise as Matt pulled both her and Archie into a tight hug.

But she didn't fight. It could have been worse.

* * *

Maxie was staring at Courtney. Courtney was staring at the floor. Tabitha was staring at a clock on the wall, and there were no words from any of them.

Tabitha caved first. "Well, this is going nowhere." Neither of them moved. "I'll do it myself, then! Courtney, apologize!"

Courtney looked scared, and Maxie...well, there was something there that she couldn't quite place. But, when Tabitha ordered it again, she immediately bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, Leader Maxie!" And she certainly sounded like it. "I...I'll never do anything...I won't do it again! Forgive me...please..."

Her voice broke, and she sniffled. She refused to cry, though. She hadn't cried in front of people in years. But Maxie's unnerving silence was putting more pressure on her than she'd like to admit.

"I will forgive you," Maxie said, and Courtney looked up. "The one thing I ask in return is that you forgive me, for not making sure you understood what I did and did not want to come from our loss to Brendan and May. I never knew your loyalty was strong enough that you would attempt to steal a rocket for me." Tabitha saw his expression shift for a fraction of a second.

Courtney mumbled something under her breath, something Tabitha pretended not to notice. Her face was turning nearly as red as her hood, and there were some things he just didn't want to know.

Maxie didn't see. "You have impressed me, Courtney, but I would like to leave that part of Team Magma behind us. Reawakening Groudon left me willing to stop my harmful actions. Now I would like to bring a new Team Magma forward. One that works to protect the land we have, not to create more of it. Would you be willing to be a part of that Team Magma, Courtney?"

There was a moment of consideration. And then Courtney broke down, crying her little heart out, and tackled Maxie in a hug. Maxie stood there, too terrified to move, and looked at Tabitha for help.

"She's _leaking_ ," he mouthed, hoping that his second-in-command could understand him. "What do I do?"

Tabitha facepalmed, but quietly approached. Taking one of Maxie's arms in each of his hands, he placed them around Courtney. As she still cried, Tabitha started using one of Maxie's hands to pet her head.

The sniffles gradually faded. Maxie gave Tabitha a relieved glance. And, when Courtney dared to look up, he focused on her. "Now," he said, gentle enough to not trigger the tears again. "Tell me what happened with the rocket."

* * *

The more Steven and Wallace talked, the less Winona seemed to understand. She made the right noises at the right points in the story, of course (including a quiet "no" when she heard just what Brendan and May had captured on their latest adventure) but overall seemed pretty lost.

"...and the meteor shattered and burned up like it was supposed to," Steven finished, "leaving a lot of questions that don't need to be answered."

"But how did she know that the meteor would crash into another world?" Winona asked, feeling a headache begin. "Even in that other world, I'm assuming that space is pretty big. There was a near infinite chance that it could have landed anywhere else."

"Leaving a lot of questions that don't need to be answered," Steven repeated.

"And if the Link Cable was based on the warp tiles," Winona continued, ignoring him, "why wouldn't she expect it to just be sent to another place in our universe?"

"I really have no idea how Devon works," Steven admitted. "I'm the heir to the family business, but I focus on the 'business' part. I'll have to look into things myself."

"I just ignore it," Flannery said, diverting the conversation. She'd heard the first half of it before, but had tagged along to learn how it ended. "The kids saved the world, a Deoxys gets to get probed and studied for human understanding, and then it gets shown the world over a longer time frame than ten years. I think everybody won this round, and Zinnia leaving you guys alone is a plus. Who cares about the specifics behind her reasoning?"

"A therapist," Wallace said at once, "and perhaps an author needing motivation for her character."

"But we're all professional battlers. Not therapists." A slight, dark smile crossed her face. "Though let's all agree to not tell Roxanne about this."

Steven didn't return that smile. "The only reason we even told _you_ was because you had to deal with Lisia."

Flannery wasn't bothered. "You all love me. You know it."

"We're under obligation." Winona's voice was placating, but Flannery knew better. League members usually did develop close friendships, and letting Steven and Winona in on the 'Winning a wife through a poker game' joke was just opening it up for their false witness reports.

Winona got to her feet immediately after. "Well," she said, trying to push her questions aside, "after hearing about the new Pokémon the kids caught, I'm going to lock myself in the Gym and have a nice, long panic attack. Do you want to come along?"

* * *

"It's over. After all this time, it's over."

It wasn't the first time that Aster had been confused by Zinnia, but it wasn't the worst of it. At least she knew _what_ was over.

They heard the old woman coming, but didn't turn until she had stopped. Then Zinnia made eye contact with her elder, and almost teared up.

The old woman gave her a warm smile. "You did your part," she said, putting a wrinkled hand on Zinnia's shoulder. "Your burden is done."

"But Brendan tamed Rayquza," Zinnia said, not surprising the woman at all. "I could barely summon it."

"But you played your part. You did summon Rayquaza, which was all the prophecy spoke of. You started what he finished."

"But I couldn't finish what our ancestors started!"

"You didn't need to. All you needed to do was bring Rayquaza's attention to the crisis." Seeing that Zinnia was ready to object, she held her ground. "It's done now. You're free to start a new life. Go and make the most of it."

Zinnia looked surprised when she got permission, but looked back at Aster. Aster's ears twitched. **"I thought you already came to that conclusion, Zinnia. You're a disappointment."**

* * *

Lisia was back home in Lilycove City, following her mother through the Department Store. The near-death experience had lifted her punishment, but her parents had still promised themselves to not let her stay home alone for at least another year.

Of course, the reason they were here in the first place might have made it an empty threat, anyway.

"Lisia?"

The voice was familiar, and she looked around. It took only a moment to recognize the speaker, and he didn't even need his Machoke out behind him. "Hey, Chaz. Make it to the Master rank yet?"

"I just won the Tough Masters," he declared, and his Machoke flexed as a joke. "She really outdid herself this time."

"I'm sure she did," Lisia said, smiling at the Pokémon. "I didn't know you were in a Contest today."

"It was yesterday," Chaz said, not sure he liked that she was that oblivious to her own path. "I thought you'd be in the audience, if you weren't on the stage."

"I was with my...aunt, for lack of a better word." Chaz's confusion wasn't what she was going for, but she wasn't about to clear it up. "Mom and Dad had things to take care of, so they dumped me on Wallace, who left me alone with her when he got called on business."

"I don't get it."

"I didn't expect it." She looked around, noticing which floor they were on. "Why are you in the Pokeball department?"

Chaz flipped his hair arrogantly. "I'm going to start a badge quest. I'll have a new Pokémon for every Contest type."

Lisia looked down at the Pokeballs on display, then up at Chaz again. "Would you like to be rivals, then? I'm starting a badge quest myself, and I know you always wanted me to say it on the Contest circuit..."

"But you said you didn't believe in Contest rivalries," Chaz finished. "I can accept this as a second-place trophy."

"Don't go giving yourself second place yet. We haven't even had our first Gym battles yet, much less made it to the Hall of Fame."

Chaz was about to complain about that, but the look on her face proved that she was doing it to annoy him. "Funny," he said, as if it wasn't funny at all.

Lisia faked innocence, but it quickly disappeared, turning into real happiness. "Good luck."

And she meant it.

* * *

Brendan and May had no idea when the show was going to begin, and had been in the Space Center long enough to fall asleep.

That was the sight the twins walked in on, but it was not the cute sleeping that Zinnia had talked about. May had her head on Brendan's right shoulder and her arms around Pikachu, but she had clearly had no idea what to do with her legs and had them slung over the end of the bench. Brendan had both his feet on the floor, but he had his head tilted back, and was snoring so loudly it should have woken May.

Tate pulled out a camera. "Say blackmail," he said quietly, and took the picture.

The sound and flash woke May, who sat up at once, looking around in confusion and only waking Brendan when she realized where they were. Brendan didn't take as long to process, but he had a question of his own.

"Is it time already?"

"Almost," Liza said, hopping onto the bench next to Brendan, leaving the spot where May's feet had been for Tate. "We didn't want to wake you, but you would have been furious if you'd missed this."

"Not nearly as furious as my dad would've been." Brendan tried to keep the image of an angry Norman out of his head. "He paid for these tickets, and 'the Space Center is not a hotel.'" Even his voice could sound like Norman's when he wanted it to. May's laughter wasn't helping anything.

"It could be worse," Tate pointed out. "It could be raining."

May shushed him immediately. "Don't you _dare_ ," she hissed. "We went through too much trouble to watch this, and I can't have it ruined because _someone_ decided to tempt fate."

Tate's only response was to play dumb. May would have continued, but that was when the show began.

It didn't last long, but Brendan was content. With his friends this happy, saving the world was almost worth it.


End file.
